Century wins clash of girls lax champs
Catonsville girls win twice in Comet Invitational; River Hill boys top Century
Century coach Becky Groves wasn’t sure how her seventh-ranked girls lacrosse team would respond after losing its first game at Saturday’s Comet Invitational Tournament to unranked host Catonsville.
In the Knights’ second game — a clash of defending state champions with No. 2 Bel Air — they surprised even their coach, bouncing back with uncommon resilience for a young team dealing with several injuries.
Bel Air, the defending Class 4A-3A champion, built a three-goal lead. But the Knights, the Class 2A-1A champs, rallied for an 8-7 victory with patience on attack, strong work on the draw and a defense that held off the Bobcats through a late-game extra-man opportunity.
The Knights (4-1) had already lost starting defender Rachel Rubenstein to a torn ACL this week, and against Catonsville, midfielder Grace Bruce, one of their top scorers, sprained an ankle and could not play against Bel Air. Bruce scored six goals in the 15-14 loss to the Comets.
“To be honest, I had no idea what team was going to walk on the field,” Groves said. “We could have just said, ‘Grace isn’t playing and whatever,’ but I told my girls, ‘It doesn’t matter if she’s not playing. If you get the ball more, step up because this is your opportunity.’ ”
Another top scorer, Christina Haspert, led the way with three goals and two assists while Demma Hall scored three goals.
“I think [losing] the first game really, really pumped us up because we did not want to lose that at all,” Hall said. “I really think that brought us all together a lot more as a team and made us want to go out and dominate.”
Maddie Bates handled the draw, which had been a problem in the loss to Catonsville. Madison Plitt and Haspert as well as the game-winning transition goal from Haspert.
During the last 12:21, Bel Air shut out the Knights. Caroline Fallace and Keeley McHugh scored in the final minutes to pull Bel Air within one with about 2:30 left. Goals: BA—Wehland, Asher, Hillman, Henry, Trzeciak, Fallace, McHugh; C—Hall 4, Haspert 3, Plitt. Assists: BA—M.Hall; Henry; C—Haspert 2; K.Morrison. Saves: BA—Patrick 6; C—Hollinger 5. Half: C, 5-4.
CATONSVILLE WINS TWO: Catonsville senior Leah Marshall scored five goals and sophomores Sophi Wrisk and Kolby Weedon had three goals each as the Comets (6-1) defeated Garrison Forest (1-9), 19-10, in the second game of the Comet Invitational girls lacrosse tournament.
Marshall scored five goals and Zoe Waddell scored the game-winning goal in Catonsville’s 15-14 victory over Century in the opening game of the tournament.