Midfielders Karri Ellen Johnson and Amber Shifflett (right) scored five goals apiece for their respective teams, but Johnson had the upper hand at the draw.
By Evan Roe
eroe@digitalsports.com
The Chesapeake girls lacrosse team just had no answer for Broadneck’s Karri Ellen Johnson on Tuesday night.
The University-of-Maryland-bound senior midfielder netted five goals and led the Bruins to a 25-3 advantage at the draw in a 19-7 win.
“The draw is the whole game,” said Johnson, who scored all of her goals in the first half. “If you have the ball, you’re going to win games. That’s what we’ve been working on in practices—boxing out on the draw and just positioning the girls around the circle so we can get it.”
She was one of nine players to score for the Bruins, whose offense worked like a machine in building a 15-4 lead by halftime. Shannon Hanratty tallied three goals and two assists and sophomore Courtney Tomchik scored three times, while fellow underclassmen Megan Eshleman and Paige Duncan each scored twice as the Bruins were in their element around the Cougars’ cage.
“I think our offense as a whole played really well tonight, which allowed Karri Ellen to score five goals,” said Broadneck coach Karen Tengwall. “I think she has a great support cast.”
Johnson, too, directed much of the credit to superior passing and set-ups by teammates like Hanratty and Lindsay Mitchell (one goal, three assists).
“I have to [credit] it to the team,” said Johnson, who benefited from three of the team’s nine assists. “… Moving through and cutting through, we just have the sense that we know where to pass it.”
The Cougars’ own offense wasn’t nearly as lethargic as its defense appeared before tightening up in the second half, with Amber Shifflett impressing with a five-goal performance of her own.
“All year, she’s been seeing the isolation. If she gets one step on her defender, she takes it to the goal, and usually she finishes it,” Chesapeake coach Denise Thompson said of Shifflett, a natural righty who has worked hard to be able shoot with either hand—a skill that has paid off big this year.
“This season, she’s really stepped up big time for us. She’s become a goal-scorer—she’s a midfielder so she plays good defense too—but she has been a big contributor on our attack.”
But because of Broadneck’s dominance controlling the ball, she and the rest of the Chesapeake attackers just didn’t have as many opportunities to strike as the Bruins and were out-shot 29-12 on the game.
“Our percentage was great,” Thompson said, referring the team’s 58-percent mark shooting. “So [the problem] is just us getting the ball down the field without making mistakes. When we settled the ball down, we were able to score off of it.”
Rachel Cox and Abby Born both scored once for the Cougars, while Lauren Gresham added an assist.
Broadneck 19, Chesapeake 7
BN 15 4 - 19
CH 4 3 - 7
Goals: BN—Hanratty 3, Mitchell, Tomchik 3, Eshleman 2, Johnson 5, George, Zoolakis, Duncan 2, Sippl. CH—Cox, Born, Shifflett 5. Assists: BN—Hanratty 2, Mitchell 3, Eshleman, George 2, J. Steinweg. CH—Gresham. Saves: BN—Handlesman, Simpson. CH—Meeks 6. Draws: BN—25. CH—3. Ground Balls: BN—21. CH—24. Shots: BN—29. CH—12.