By Chris Goldberg
TopLaxRecruits.com, Posted 6/22/13
MARLTON, N.J. – Kyra Harney had three goals and an assist and the Long Island Yellow Jackets (Team Thorn) rallied for a 7-4 victory over Quaker City (PA) in the 2014 championship game today at National Draw at Cherokee High.
The Yellow Jackets trailed, 4-2, early in the second half after Quaker City’s Madison Tucker (Shipley School rising junior) scored off the draw. From then on, the Yellow Jackets won every draw and scored the game’s final five goals.
Rising senior Kylie Ohmiller (Islip, committed to Stony Brook) scored to make it 4-3 and rising senior Kasey Behr (St. Anthony’s, Virginia) tied it with nine minutes to play. Harney (Bay Shore, Duke) put her team up for good with 8:40 left and then fed Ohmiller for a 6-4 lead.
Rising senior Tiffany Zullo (Connetquot, Stony Brook) finished the scoring.
“She (coach Becky Thorn) just reminded us that we had a really good tournament so far,” said Harney. “We have been playing together and we had to flip the switch.
“Once we started to get possession of the draws – which is the big part of the game –we were able to capitalize off of that.”
The National Draw, in its 14th year, featured 213 teams in seven age classes. Teams from New England to Florida to the Midwest (Illinois) were represented.
The Yellow Jackets went 6-0 overall in the 24-team 2014 bracket, outscoring their foes, 83-10. They blitzed DEWLAX (NJ), 10-1, in the semifinals.
“We’re all basically recruited and most of us have been together since fourth grade,” said Harney. “It’s good to defend this title since we won it last year. It’s our last summer together and that’s kind of sad, but we have a few more tournaments.”
Harney, Ohmiller, Zullo and several others on the Thorn squad will play for the Long Island team in the Under Armour Underclassmen Games July 5-7 at Towson University.
Quaker City played with an all-2015 lineup and only a few subs. Coach George Dick’s squad (5-1 overall) rallied to defeat the second Yellow Jackets team (Jones), 5-4, to reach the finals.
Jane Henderson (Harriton rising junior) had three goals in the title game and also scored the game-winner in the semifinals.
“It was great; we did beat one Yellow Jackets team, which is fun,” said Dick. “We had the lead at halftime in the final, but we ran out of gas. We had one sub all tournament.
“Give them credit, they’re a great team. We played our hearts out. It was great for a PA team to make it to the final.”
Dick is coach at Harriton, which two weeks ago won the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association title with a thrilling overtime win over Radnor. He had six members of that team on the Quaker City squad.
“Those six kids are battle tested and in good shape,” he said. “I thought they did a great job and came together as a team. This is the first time this (Quaker City) team has made it this far here.”
In the 2015 Division, the Yellow Jackets defeated Long Island rival Suffolk, 8-3. The Yellow Jackets also won the 2016 title with a 7-1 victory over Suffolk.
The 2014, 2015 and 2016 pool play games began Friday. The 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020-21 pool play games opened today and championship games will be held Sunday.
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