McDonogh goalie junior Megan Fiorito is ready to protect her goal. She stopped nine shots in the game.
Bryn Mawr goal keeper Abby Bisbee "had one of her best games of the year, which we needed," said coach Kim Simons.
bhopp@digitalsports.com(McDonogh post-game interviews below)It was 'Deja vu' for both McDonogh and Bryn Mawr's girls varsity lacrosse squads on Tuesday. Earlier in the season, on March 4th, the two teams played a highly competitive game with the Eagles coming out on top of the Mawrtians by a 10-9 margin.
In the first meeting between the schools, Bryn Mawr fell behind the
Eagles early, battled back but the comeback attempt fell just short. Junior Annie Thomas scored
four goals while Katie Sullivan and Sam McGee added two goals each and
goal keeper Abby Bisbee stopped five shots in that game.
Juniors Kitty Cullen and Katie Matz each scored three goals and Megan
Fiorito stopped six shots for McDonogh in the early season match.
On Tuesday, the two teams faced off again in the quarterfinals of the IAAM 'A' Conference Lacrosse Tournament with the same outcome, a one-point, 10-9 victory for McDonogh.
"We had a couple of opportunities to put it away and we didn't," said
McDonogh head coach Chris Robinson as his team almost lost a late four-goal lead. "Congratulate them because they
took advantage of the door we left open..."
No. 11 Bryn Mawr (8-8 overall), the six-seed in the tournament, came out with a lot of intensity and were very aggressive, scoring the first three goals of the game to take a 3-0 lead with just under six minutes elapsed off of the clock.
Junior midfielder Sarah Matz got the scoring started when she netted a goal off of a free position with 23:10 left in the half. Freshman Morgan Rubin and junior Annie Thomas added goals in that quick three-goal run.
But second-seeded McDonogh (17-2), with one of the most explosive offenses in the 'A' Conference, answered and ran off the next five goals to jump ahead.
The No. 3 Eagles got on the board at the 15 minute mark when junior Ali Brennan hit the back of the net with the first of her two goals. Junior Colby Rhea scored three minutes later to cut the Bryn Mawr lead to 3-2 with 12 minutes to go in the half. Brennan netted her second goal to tie the score with 2:30 to play then Hannah Franklin and Kerry Hamill scored respectively to give the McDonogh the 5-3 halftime lead.
"We know McDonogh is a team that likes to go on runs and they
capitalize on your mistakes," said Bryn Mawr head coach Kim Simons.
"They did that today and we're proud that our team fought back but
the problem is, you can't get down to McDonogh because they are really
tough when you get down. You fight all the way back and they find a way to kick it
into an extra gear and go at you again."
After the five-goal spurt by the Eagles, it looked like the early aggressiveness for Bryn Mawr had vanished and McDonogh would run away with the game, but the Mawrtians had other plans.
The match was comparable to a see-saw with both teams trading goals and the lead. Bryn Mawr won the first two face-offs of the second half and converted them into back-to-back goals by senior attacker Sarah Cole to tie the score at 5-5 with 23:20 to play.
The remainder of the contest was not for the faint of heart as the
next 20 minutes where up-and-down like a roller coaster that could have
given fans motion sickness.
The trend of scoring runs continued as it did in the first half as the Eagles briefly regained the lead at 6-5 on Franklin's second goal.
Morgan Rubin tipped the see-saw back to Bryn Mawr when she scored on another free position to tie the score once again at 6-6. Then McDonogh went on another one of it's runs as Franklin, freshman Brooks Ann Lawler, juniors Molly Fernandez and Katie Matz scored successive goals to open the Eagles advantage to 10-6 with just over 11 minutes to play.
Guess what happened after that? If you said the Mawrtians went on a run of their own, you'd be right.
Kelsey MacDonald found the net with 6:00 to play for Bryn Mawr. Sarah Matz added a goal for the second time with just over two minutes to go to cut the McDonogh lead 10-8. Freshman Sam McGee kept the suspense going as she scored with 1:45 to go, cutting the lead to one.
The Mawrtians needed to win the ensuring face-off and score to send the game to overtime. After the ball went into the air, sophomore defender Taylor Virden came out with it and charged down the field as McDonogh tried to run the clock out.
With about 30 seconds to play, the ball got away from the Eagles and it looked like Bryn Mawr could have a shot of scoring but defender Carly Napora intercepted a pass as McDonogh ran out the clock to foil the Mawrtians comback attempt and escaped with the 10-9 victory.
"We knew they were going to come back and fight," said Robinson. "We just had to answer each time they made a run
and fortunately, we made one more run than they did."
No. 3 McDonogh 10, No. 11 Bryn Mawr 9Goals: BM--Cole 2, Rubin 2, Matz 2, Thomas, MacDonald, McGee; M--Franklin 3, Brennan 2, Fernandez, Matz, Hamill, Rhea, Lawler.
Assists: BM--Sullivan 2, Matz; M--Fernandez, Lawler, Matz, Cullen, Paterakis, Smith.
Saves: BM--Bisbee 8; M--Fiorito 9.
Half: M, 5-3.
IAAM A CONFERENCE LACROSSE BRACKET