McDonogh is in title-winning form
After 1-year hiatus, Eagles regain spot atop conference
Trailing by two with time quickly running out on its season, top-ranked McDonogh couldn’t afford to lose its poise in Saturday’s Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference final at Gerstell Academy.
Unable to push virtually anything past St. Paul’s goalie Leah Wareheim, the Eagles needed to find an answer to avoid a second straight upset on their biggest stage of the season.
But unlike in their finals loss a year ago, this time they found one.
Goals by Blair Pearre and Emma Schettig in the final 4 minutes, 14 seconds forced overtime, where, following several heartstopping moments at both ends, junior Izzy Marsh scored the winner with 14.8 seconds left in the second sudden-death overtime period in a 5-4 win.
“They were calm, cool, collected, and they knew what to do,” McDonogh coach Taylor Cummings said. “I’m incredibly proud of their resiliency, their determination and them not hitting the panic button when a lot of other teams would have.”
“Our team was just thinking the whole time, ‘Six minutes left, just give it everything we have,’ ” Kayla Abernathy said. “[We needed to] fake on our shots, be clean with everything we do and just hustle… leave it all out on the field.”
St. Paul’s (12-10), which already had taken McDonogh to overtime in early April, outplayed the Eagles for much of the second half, led by the play of sophomore Wareheim in goal. In the end, the Gators came up agonizingly short.
“We needed to make one more play,” St. Paul’s coach Mary Gagnon said. “That was it. They made one more play then we did.” Concordia in Saturday’s Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland C Conference lacrosse final at Gerstell Academy.
Pallotti (17-3), which had lost to the Saints by a goal during the regular season, trailed 5-1 in the first half before rallying for its first title since 2008. Consecutive goals by Skeete Ridley brought Pallotti to within one, and sophomore Ally Miller forced overtime off a feed from Skeete Ridley.
“We were just likeW, ` e need to dig deep,’ ” said Skeete Ridley, who will continue her career at Howard University. “We had to leave everything out on the field and give it our all.”
Goals: P-Skeete-Ridley 6, Robertson, Miller; C-King 3, S. Lassahn 2, Franker, Godat. Assists: P-Skeete-Ridley. C-S. Lassahn, V. Lassahn, King. Saves: C-Meyer 3; P-Eubanks 4, Onyenwe 1. Half: Concordia, 6-3.
B Conference