SEAHAWKS REBOUND FROM EARLIER LOSS

by Carol Mattingly
carol.mattingly@mac.com

South River High School girls lacrosse coach Julie Norton had some unfinished words Tuesday for her girls after their disappointing loss to Broadneck the night before. Minutes before the girls boarded their bus for their game with Chesapeake, she spoke about how the girls needed to be more aware of situations and adjust accordingly.

“We have to get better every game," Norton said. "The thing I wanted to emphasize with them tonight is they needed to start learning how to change their game and if things aren’t working, they need to start asking the coaches. This includes, draw controls, defense, offense, the whole field.”

Senior attacker Ali Mattingly took Norton’s words to heart Tuesday and scored five goals  to lead the Seahawks to a 17-4 win over the host Cougars.

“We had three big games in four days," said Mattingly, who team improved to 7-1. “We needed to apply what we learned and we knew we needed to go hard right off the bat -- draws, transitions, shots, score. We had the score at 6-0 just 4 minutes into the game, so I think we achieved what we wanted early.”

Mattingly used her height and reach to wrangle high feeds from junior attacker Devon Dorsey who finished with two goals and one assist. Junior attacker Stephanie Peterson hooked up with Mattingly twice and finished with four assists and a goal.

Sophomore midfielder Brooke Griffin continued her prowess posting four goals and an assist. Peterson and senior midfielder Alana Glanell assisted two of Griffin's goals.

At the half, the score was 12-1 in favor of the Seahawks. Chesapeake’s lone score of the half came from senior midfielder Stephanie Miller.

The Cougars (3-2-1) were able to get off six shots in the first half and three were free positions, all saved by South River’s junior goalie Kim Kolarik.

Junior Amber Shifflett along with sophomores Jessica Soroka and Samantha Scruggs also found the net for Chesapeake.

Junior goalie Ali Meeks had three saves for the Cougars and senior goalie Sarah Wheat blocked four for South River as Wheat and Kolarik combined for seven saves.

“Back to back games are tough mentally and physically," Kolarik said. "Broadneck was a completely different game from Chesapeake. This team has so much potential to go really far if we apply.”

South River (7-1)                             12    5   -    17
Chesapeake (3-2-1)                            2    2   -     4

GOALS: SR - Mattingly 5, Griffin 4, Glanell 2, Carta 2, Dorsey 2, Peterson, Mayer; CH - Miller, Schifflett, Cox, Soroka. ASSISTS: SR - Peterson 4, Disharoon 2, Glanell, Carta, Griffin, Curtis, Dorsey; CH - Cox. SAVES: SR - Kolarik 3, Wheat 4; CH - Meeks 3. SHOTS: SR - 22; CH -6. GROUND BALLS: SR - 31; CH - 21.