After their first win of the season against Blair, the girls’ lacrosse team stood strong, winning a hard-fought game against Churchill, 15-9, on March 24. Only two days later, they were charged with another tough task against Whitman. The Cats followed up their Churchill win with an impressive comeback win against the Vikings, 11-8. Finally, the Cats topped off their week with a win against Northwood, 13-2.
“We trust each other to take care of the ball, and we always encourage each other on and off the field, which really helped us get through this long week,” senior Peyton Brown said.
The week began with a road game at Churchill, where rainy and muddy conditions made it tough to play. After an even 2-2 game through the first quarter, early second-quarter goals from senior Mallory Booth and sophomore Mira Mann helped the Cats take control, leading 6-2 at halftime.
“I think our attack stepped up for the Churchill game with better communication, and our defense adjusted, which refrained Churchill from scoring,” junior Eloise Hill said.
Coming out of halftime, the Bulldogs tried to gain back some ground on the Cats; however, senior captain Ginger Fishberg took command, notching five straight goals, extending the lead to 11-5. The teams continued exchanging goals into the 4th quarter, and the game ended at 15-9.
“Ginger has always been a leader for the team on and off the field, and it shined through the Churchill game,” Brown said. “Going into the game, we were nervous with it only being our second game, however, her communication and leadership was something we could rely on throughout the game.”
Going into Wednesday’s game against Whitman, the Cats had one goal: to get revenge on Whitman for last year’s regional finals loss. Right off the starting whistle, the Cats knew they were facing a team as talented as last year’s, and that showed as the Vikings quickly scored two goals. The Cats answered back with a goal of their own from freshman Alina Macdermott, but the Vikings continued to pile on goals, ending the first quarter 5-1 in favor of the Vikings.
“I think we locked in and realized that this was our home turf, and we weren’t going to let them bully us,” Mann said. “We worked really hard together as a team to come back.”
The Cats looked to make the comeback early in the game and make up for their mistakes made in the first quarter; unfortunately, the Vikings came out of the intermission hot, scoring a goal to increase the score to 6-1. Finally, the Cats seemed to wake up after a quick goal by junior Annie Linkie, followed by goals from both Booth and Fishberg. Following a tradeoff of goals right before halftime, the game was much closer after the end of the second quarter, 7-5, with the Vikings narrowly holding onto their lead.
Straight out of half-time, the Cats went to work, wanting to win this game and feeling the momentum generating from the second quarter. Booth scored the opening goal, and then Macdermott and sophomore Julia Zucconi scored the following goals. The Cats had pulled off the comeback and had their first lead of the game, 8-7, going into the final quarter.
“It felt really good to come back on a team like Whitman,” Mann said. “Knowing both potential they could’ve come back but I think we kept our composure and kept cheering each other on for motivation which led us ultimately to that nice comeback win.”
After finally taking the lead, the Cats refused to let Whitman come back into the game, with Mann scoring a goal to open the 4th and bring the lead to two. Whitman seemed to begin to give up hope when the Cats piled up their lead to four, making it 11-7. Whitman eventually scored a responding goal, but it was too late, as the Wildcats had taken down the Vikings in stunning fashion.
For the final game of the week, the Cats faced off against Northwood. Northwood came out hot, scoring the first goal of the game, but also woke up the Cats. Throughout the rest of the game, the Cats scored 13 unanswered goals until the final quarter when Northwood scored their second goal, ending the game 13-2.
The Wildcats will start off next week with a game at BCC, March 31 at 7 p.m. They follow up this with another challenging game against QO at home on April 4 at 7 p.m.
“We were going into Whitman with a positive mindset, and the whole team wanted to win, which built up our confidence a lot,” Hill said. “I hope we can bring the same energy to BCC and QO.”
