Girls' Lacrosse Team of Year: Upper Moreland battled all the way
Every new season brings questions, and every head coach seems to be a little pessimistic beforehand about how his/her team will do.
Upper Moreland head girls' lacrosse coach Kim Frantz was no different.
"We had a good group coming back this season, but, like every year, we had lost a strong group of seniors to graduation, and you always wonder how you'll replace them," Frantz said.
"Our biggest concern was probably on defense because we had some big graduation losses there. It was a question of whether or not we would be able to fill the holes on defense."
The Golden Bears did as they ended up with a sterling 19-4 record and shared the Suburban One League American Conference title with Springfield-Montco and Upper Dublin.
They also placed third in the PIAA District One Class 2A tournament, which earned them a berth in the PIAA tournament. All of those efforts earned the Golden Bears the Courier Times/Intelligencer Team of the Year honors.
"One of our biggest goals was to win the conference title," Frantz said. "We hadn't done that in my seven seasons, and I was so happy for the team and my assistant coaches that we did it.
"And then to place third at districts is again a credit to the kids and assistants. Usually, in the past, we've been able to win the first round at districts and then we lose in the second round.
"We were able to get past that this year and ended up making it to states. I was just so happy for the kids."
More: Upper Moreland's Frantz named high school lacrosse Coach of the Year
Have a look: Living the dream: Upper Moreland lacrosse makes history with first PIAA playoff appearance
More: See the top players who made our girls lacrosse all-star team
More: North Penn star named high school girls lacrosse Player of the Year
Final season rankings
(with records in parentheses)
Upper Moreland (19-4). The Golden Bears shared the Suburban One League American Conference title with Springfield-Montco and Upper Dublin and also placed third in the PIAA District One Class 2A tournament.
Gwynedd Mercy (15-9). The Monarchs, despite being seeded eighth, placed fourth in the PIAA District One Class 2A tournament and won a first-round PIAA game.
Check it out: Keep an eye on these 14 Bucks County area players in boys, girls PIAA Lacrosse playoffs
3. (tie) North Penn (13-6) and Pennsbury (14-5). These teams shared the SOL National Conference title, and both also won a first-round PIAA District One Class 3A game.
5. Pennridge (12-8). The Rams won a first-round District One Class 3A game.
Others to watch: Council Rock South (14-5), Germantown Academy (13-9).
Take a look: Check out the results from the PIAA lacrosse, volleyball quarterfinals
Drew Markol: dmarkol@theintell.com; @dmarkol
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Upper Moreland earns Bucks County area's top lacrosse honors of year
