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Through the first 40 minutes of the game, however, those seniors had a tough time imposing themselves on the flow of the game. Nguyen scored a goal in the opening two minutes, but after that, Springbrook (3-1 overall) was silent for a considerable stretch. While Kessler and Co. struggled with Walter Johnson’s defense, Benson quietly encouraged her team from the sideline, rarely raising her voice above its normal level.

On the flip side, Walter Johnson coach Bill Euler made his opinion known through all corners of the field. Now in his fourth season with the team, Euler has become one of the old hands in the county’s public school lacrosse circles. However, after making the state semifinals in 2005, the Wildcats have graduated 21 players in the last two seasons from that team, and are in the middle of a rebuilding project. This season, with just four seniors on the roster, Walter Johnson has had to get its experience by taking losses.

‘‘It is about patience this season,” Euler said. ‘‘It is about learning. We have some young girls out there, and you think you are teaching them, but when they don’t perform, you wonder why. But then you go back to the drawing board. We all do the best that we can do.”

For most of the game, however, Walter Johnson (0-3 overall) seemed to be doing the things that Euler had been asking them to do all season. Accurate passes and an ability to haul in long throws fueled the transition attack, and the defense was anchored by goalie Colleen Gradowski, who made several saves on close-in shots. Attacker Jessie Euler second goal of the game was a nice set play, as Lauren Wolman feathered a pass right onto her stick, and she flicked the ball into the goal to give the Wildcats a 4-1 lead. When Abby Bieber’s goal increased that margin to 5-1 with 10 minutes left in the game, even Euler could not help but smile.

Then Kessler took over.

‘‘It seems that this team has a tendency to get nervous,” Euler said. ‘‘They build a lead—and this has happened to us in two games now—and then they get nervous about keeping it. They have to build that confidence. It’s a factor for them as players. The more they play, the more confident they will get, but right now, they obviously don’t have it.”

In their seniors, like Kessler and Nguyen, the Blue Devils have all the experience they need. After suffering a loss to Magruder in overtime the team and Benson ironed out some communication issues that dogged them, and then worked on their conditioning. After taking most of the game to figure out the Wildcats, Springbrook might use this effort to come back from its spring break even stronger.

‘‘We learned a lesson after Magruder,” Kessler said. ‘‘That loss wasn’t very much fun. We have gotten back into working on our physical shape, and we were able to take this game into overtime and get the running done. We have had our struggles with the transition [to Benson] but it seems like it has been taken care of. We have come together.”