Kristy Black (fore) was again a driving force for Glenelg's girls' lacrosse team. The senior scored four goals Wednesday evening in the Gladiators' 13-9 victory over Liberty in the Class 2A/1A West Region finals. Glenelg will play Rising Sun in the state semifinals Saturday at Reservoir.
Glenelg High and Liberty's girls' lacrosse teams met in a pre-season scrimmage. It was a competitive game because many of the players were familiar with each other, but the mood was light. Wednesday, the the two teams clashed again with much more at stake.
With a spot in the state 2A/1A Final Four on the line, Glenelg emerged victorious 13-9 over the Lions for the West Region crown. The Gladiators will play Rising Sun in a state semifinal match at Reservoir Saturday at 3 p.m.
Led by three goals and three assists from senior Alayna Markwordt, in addition to four goals from classmate Kristy Black, the Howard County champs was able to hold on to an early second half lead to secure their first state Final Four trip since winning the 2A/1A crown in 2005.
"We wanted to be in the zone from the beginning," said Markwordt. "We knew we had to get focused on the way here and get pumped up. We knew what we wanted to do."
Early in the first half, it was game of call and answer. Glenelg struck early and often, but for every goal the Gladiators scored, Liberty was there with a following tally.
Midway through the first half, Glenelg went on a 4-0 run to slow down the Lions' attack. Freshman Maggie McCormick stopped the drought for the Lions with a minute left in the half, but the Lady Lions found themselves with a 7-4 deficit at the break.
Liberty gained momentum to start the second half. Sophomore attack Caitlin Prince started a three-goal rally as tied the game at seven. Glenelg coach Ginger Kincaid saw the change in pace, and quickly called a timeout to compose her team.
"I told the girls today to focus and execute," said Kincaid. "That's just it. Those were the two key words."
After the timeout the Gladiators scored six unanswered goals to push the score to 12-7 with 7 minutes, 52 seconds remaining. The Lions made a late push of their own scoring two goals in final stretch, but Glenelg controlled the ball the last two minutes to seal the win.
"We were 15-2, we won our conference, and I'm proud that we got to this point," said Liberty coach Jerry Gladfelter "Glenelg is a really good team. We just gave them two many chances and they took advantage of them, but we have nothing to hang our heads about."
The Lions were also plagued with turnovers, and were unable to gain control on the draw. Glenelg won the battle at the circle with an 18-9 advantage.
"We started the season off playing them, so it was really nice to see it come full circle," said Kincaid. "It was really nice to come out and win against a really good team, and we knew we were going to have a tough game when we came here today, but we did it, and I'm so proud of them."
Class 2A-1A West Region final
Glenelg 13, Liberty 9
Goals: Glenelg-Black 4, Markwordt 3, Chase 2, Kitchelt 2, Felix, Giraldi; Liberty-Gladfelter 3, Leonard 2, McCormick 2, Prince 2. Assists: Glenelg-Markwordt 3, Black 2, Giraldi 2, Grogan; Liberty-Gladfelter 2. Saves: Glenelg-Beaver 14; Liberty-Pontier 7. Halftime: Glenelg 7, Liberty 4.