TOWAMENCIN – Looking out into the North Penn fan section, a sea of orange fills into the bleachers. Orange tee shirts, sweatshirts, head bands, socks, balloons, ribbons and posters decorated the North Penn turf for the first Lax for Leukemia Fundraiser game on Thursday night. Alyssa Oxenford, North Penn girls’ lacrosse alumna, was recently diagnosed with Leukemia that took her out of her lacrosse season at her D2 school, East Strausburg. Heading into the game with a 7-6 record, North Penn knew it would be a tough match against CB West who has a 9-3 record.

Almost two minutes into the game, CB West scored the first goal, but within 30 seconds after West’s goal, Pennbrook Freshman, Brianna O’Donnell scored the first goal for the Maidens. Both teams had aggressive offense and tough defense, but the ten minute mark was the turning point for Bucks, pulling ahead with a 5-4 lead.

“I told the girls, ‘It’s going to be a game of possession. And if we don’t keep possession we’re going to lose the game.’ And that’s pretty much what happened to us in the first half. We didn’t get possession of the ball for majority of the first half and we were down by 7-4 by halftime,” said Varsity Head Coach Heather Mellow.

Heading into the second half, the Buck’s came out stronger than the first half pulling farther ahead with a 9-4 lead. The Maidens rallied together and brought more intensity with 15 minutes left in the game when Kaitlyn Phifer scored a goal making the game now 9-5. Sydney Lear and Jenn Delongis followed with two more goals for the Maidens with thirteens minutes left.

“We knew this was a big game with the Leukemia night and everything and we wanted to win for Alyssa and we knew this was a big game coming in because if we lost, it would drop us down in the standings. If we won, it would bring us up in the standings, so it was a crucial game. So I just said, ‘give it everything we got in this game. Play it like it’s your last game of the season.’ And I think we came in with confidence with winning our game on Tuesday and I think that brought our confidence up,” said senior co-captain Emily Schulze.

At the five minute mark, the Buck’s score, but within 30 seconds, Schulze scored a crucial goal for the maidens making it 10-8. The Maiden’s key player, Brianna O’Donnell was flagged a yellow card and was out for two minutes. She returned with 20 seconds left of play and scored her second goal for the maidens, making the score a one point difference.

“I wasn’t making those goals in practice, but I finally got the courage and I did it,” said O’Donnell.

With only ten seconds left in the game, the Maiden’s won the draw and headed towards CB’s net, only to run out of time and lose the game 10-9.

“If we just had a couple more minutes we would have tied up the game or won the game possibly,” said Mellow.

Although the Maidens lost against CB West, the night was a success with funding over $4,000 towards Alyssa’s trust fund and other patients fighting Leukemia. The next girl’s Lacrosse game is away at Kennett High School Friday afternoon.