Eagles draw away for another easy triumph
McDonogh makes short work of another ranked foe to extend streak to 172
McDonogh coach Chris Robinson stressed to his No. 1 girls lacrosse team before Saturday morning’s game that No. 4 Marriotts Ridge had the speed and athleticism to beat the Eagles.
Once the game started, however, the Mustangs did not have much of the one thing they really needed — the ball.
The Eagles dominated possession, thanks primarily to center Maddie Jenner’s ability to control the draw, and rolled to a 22-7 win with their biggest offensive output of the season. The victory runs their national-record high school girls lacrosse winning streak to 172 games.
Jenner, at 6 feet 1, towered over most of the Mustangs who tried to counter her on the draw, and with her height and long wingspan, she snatched most of the draws out of the air. She won 13 of the 21 draws she took and the Eagles (17-0) finished with a 26-5 advantage in draw controls.
“Clearly you can see the difference on the draw,” Marriotts Ridge coach Amanda Brady said. “They dominate the draw and we knew that going into it, so trying everything you possibly can do and not being successful, that’s mentally tough.”
In a game that started at 9 a.m. because Marriotts Ridge had its prom Saturday night, host McDonogh jumped to a quick lead, taking advantage when the Mustangs (9-3) put them on the 8-meter arc four times in the first four minutes. They scored off three of those free positions — Julia Hoffman hit Catie May twice and Rachel Anderson fed Anna Robinson.
Jenner won the next two draws, but the Eagles turned them over and the Mustangs converted, cutting the lead to 3-2 after Casey Sullivan assisted Victoria Hensh and Hayleigh Simpson scored a free-position goal.
The Mustangs were within 6-4 with 9:05 left in the half after Hensh assisted Lily Kennedy. Then the Eagles began to roll, running their lead to seven with five straight goals. Hoffman had two goals and an assist in the run, which ended when Kayla Abernathy scored the second of two extra-man goals for an 11-4 lead with less than four minutes to go in the half.
Those five goals kicked off a 14-1 Eagles run as they won 13 draws through that stretch.
Robinson, who said his team had its most dominant draw-control performance of the season, said winning those possessions meant “everything” against a team such as Marriotts Ridge that came into Saturday averaging 15.5 goals per game.
“The few times they did have it on the offensive end, I think they showed their offensive firepower,” Robinson said. “They’ve got a very, very strong attack and an extremely fast midfield. It would have been a daunting task to stop them 20-30 times in a game. The fact that they didn’t touch the ball that much, I think was just huge.”
During the five-goal Eagles run late in the first half, the Mustangs never touched the ball. Then after May fed Jenner with 19:24 left in the second half for a 15-5 lead and a running clock, the Mustangs had possession just once while the Eagles scored five more goals. The Mustangs didn’t have the ball long as Eagles defender Margaret Donovan caused a turnover and got the ground ball that led to Julia Dorsey scoring the 19th goal.
Andie Aldave finished the run off a Megan Mix assist to give McDonogh a 20-5 lead with 9:35 left.
Hoffman, with three goals and two assists, and May, with two goals and two assists, led the Eagles while Dorsey had two goals and two assists. Abernathy had three goals and an assist. Jenner and Blair Pearre added three goals each.
The Eagles, ranked No. 1 in every national poll, have beaten seven teams ranked in The Baltimore Sun’s top 15 after their previous win came against No. 3 Notre Dame Prep on Thursday. They’ve secured the No. 1 seed for the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference tournament and will go for their ninth straight title with a bye into the May 9 quarterfinals.
They have two regular-season games left — Tuesday at John Carroll and Thursday at No. 14 Century, which they rallied to beat 12-11 in overtime last year after trailing by four goals with 8:14 left in regulation.
“It’s just great to get as much good competition as we can,” May said. “Marriotts Ridge is a great team, so are the other public school teams we play this year. It’s really good to get a mix of teams also not in the IAAM to have a bunch of different kinds of games.”
The Mustangs, who have lost only to No. 1 McDonogh, No. 2 Glenelg and No. 3 Notre Dame Prep, have two games left, including Friday’s regular-season finale at home against neighborhood rival Mount Hebron. Then, they will head into the playoffs aiming to win their fourth state title and their first since 2014. Goals: MR—S.Blalock 2, Simpson 2, Hensh, G.Kennedy, L.Kennedy; McD—Abernathy 3, Hoffman 3, Jenner 3, Pearre 3, May 2, Dorsey 2, Jacobstein 2, Aldave, Anderson, Robinson, Schettig. Assists: MR—Hensh, Sullivan; McD—May 3, Dorsey 2, Hoffman 2, Abernathy, Anderson, Mix. Saves: MR—Miller 4; McD—Cooper 4, Geoghan 0, Hammerschlag 0. Half: McD, 13-5.