Girls lacrosse: Springbrook holds off Churchill rally

Wednesday, May 9, 2007

Girls lacrosse: Springbrook holds off Churchill rally

Springbrook 11, Churchill 10

by Peter R. Palmieri | Special to The Gazette

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J. Adam Fenster⁄The Gazette

Springbrook’s Shannon Connolly (center) weaves through Churchill defenders Teryn Hann (left) and Courney Tamm (right) during the Blue Devils’ 11-10 win Friday night in Silver Spring. Connolly scored what would turn out to be the game-winning goal.

Following an 11-10 loss to Springbrook, Churchill girls lacrosse coach Louisa Feve said her team’s record in the regular season does not reflect its ability. The thrilling ending to Friday’s game in Silver Spring proved just that.

Taking command with a five-goal outburst in the first eight minutes of the second half, Springbrook (7-4 overall record) then hung on for the victory. Churchill (3-8) mounted a furious comeback late in the game, scoring three unanswered goals. Senior Kelsey Strawn scored her third of the game with just over four minutes remaining to pull the Bulldogs within one, but it was as close as the team would come.

‘‘Our bench was very enthusiastic this game, which was huge for us,” said Feve. ‘‘During our timeouts and any little break we had, the team was saying, ‘We can do this, guys. We’ve got this, it’s our game.’ Maybe if we had another two minutes it would have been a different story.”

The two teams battled to a 5-5 tie in the first half before Springbrook seemingly broke the game open. Blue Devils senior Lauren Kessler scored twice in their run of five straight goals.

The second-half surge clearly made the difference, and helped the Blue Devils overcome some struggles in the first half, according to Kessler.

‘‘In the beginning, we were struggling with our teamwork,” she said. ‘‘We had that one really nice run in the beginning of the second half that really opened up the game for us.”

Similarly, Feve said Springbrook’s intensity was the difference early in the second half.

‘‘I don’t think, technically, they really did anything much different,” she said.

Trailing 10-5 with just under 13 minutes left, junior Teryn Hann started Churchill’s comeback when she found the back of the net off a pass from sophomore Angela Biciocchi. Six minutes later, senior Lea Biciocchi scored her third goal of the game, off another assist from her sister, Angela.

Following a Springbrook timeout, Strawn scored her third goal, but the Bulldogs never did get the equalizer.

Churchill had two great scoring chances in the final three minutes of the game, but Springbrook senior goalie Katie Carlson-Lynch made two stops that saved the game. On the first chance, Lea Biciocchi sprinted towards goal and took a point-blank shot that was stopped. And with about 30 seconds remaining, Carlson-Lynch denied junior Lauren Plotnick’s shot to seal the victory.

Springbrook’s final goal came with 14 minutes left in the second half, but it turned out to be the game-winner, scored by junior Shannon Connolly off an assist from Kessler.

‘‘I think that [Churchill] played very well and they brought their game,” said Springbrook coach Emily Benson. ‘‘It was a great game and our girls stepped up.”