Eagles survive another challenge
Nation-best winning streak reaches 165 games despite early push from Falcons
No. 1 McDonogh fought off another challenge to its national high school girls lacrosse win streak Saturday on one of the biggest stages for the girls sport in the Mid-Atlantic.
The Eagles ran their streak to 165 games with an 11-5 win over Good Counsel in the first girls game ever played as part of the PNC Lacrosse Classic at Loyola Maryland’s Ridley Athletic Complex.
Although the Eagles (10-0) dominated the draws, they had eight first-half turnovers and half as many ground balls as Good Counsel, which cut down significantly on their possession time. Still they had a 28-15 edge in shots on goal to beat the Falcons for the third straight year. They have won all seven meetings and this one matched the closest margin with the Eagles winning, 12-6, in 2007.
Defender Margaret Donovan said the Eagles were a bit nervous on the big stage.
“It’s a big stadium. It’s a big game,” Donovan said. “Good Counsel is our best competition by far. They came out strong. They came out loud. They came out with energy. It happens. You get a slow start when players get nervous, but I thought we really did well to calm down. We took a timeout, calmed down and we just really pulled it together.”
In the second half, the Eagles turned the ball over just once, shut the Falcons out for the first 14:40 and scored the first three goals to boost their lead to 9-4 with 10:49 to go.
While the Eagles are No. 1 in every national poll, the Falcons (6-2), from Olney, are ranked 10th in USA Today’s Super 25 and the Nike/US Lacrosse Top 25. They tumbled out of the top five after falling to Agnes Irwin (Pa.), 12-11, last week.
McDonogh emerged from a tight first half with a 6-4 lead. With the defense holding the Falcons in check early in the second half, Maddie Jenner and Andie Aldave scored extra-man goals before Aldave scored on a feed from Catie May for the 9-4 lead.
Good Counsel’s Taylor McDaniels cut the lead to 9-5 with 10:20 to go, but Jenner answered with a free-position goal with 7:30 left to boost the lead to 10-5. Aldave, who scored three times, won the next draw and the Eagles stalled away more than four minutes before Julia Hoffman hit a free position for her third goal of the game. Goals: GC—McDaniels 2, Graham, Mantzouratos, Rieu; M—Aldave 3, Hoffman 3, Jenner 2, Dorsey, Robinson, Shettig. Assists: M—Hoffman 2, May 2, Saves: GC—Forman 6; M—Cooper 4. Half: M, 6-4.