GIRLS LACROSSE: NO. 15 GLENELG DOMINATES NO. 19 CENTENNIAL, 21-6

 by Lem Satterfield

(see video interviews and highlights below)

When Howard County rival Centennial scored Tuesday's milestone victory over visiting league rival Mount Hebron, members of Glenelg's girls' lacrosse team were on hand to witness it from the stands.

"We watched their game on Tuesday against Hebron and we were like, 'Oh my gosh, they just beat one of the best teams in the country, they're going to come out here tired, they're going to think they're awesome, we've got to come out here and show them what we're made of,'" said University of Maryland-bound senior playmaker, Kristy Black, whose Gladiators visited the Eagles on Thursday.

"We knew we were just as good," said Black, "or better than them."

Black and the Gladiators were on the mark in more ways than one -- particularly in dominating the draws and in their collective shooting accuracy -- during Thursday's impressive, 21-6 victory that improved their record to 5-0 in the league, and, 7-1 overall.

Ranked 15th in the DigitalSports/Inside Lacrosse Top 20 ahead of the 19th-ranked Eagles, the Gladiators received offensive contributions from nine different players, building a 10-3 halftime lead on 15 shots -- all of which were on goal.

Black (five goals, two assists), Ohio State-bound senior Alayna Markwordt (five, three), junior Katie Grogan (one assist) and sophomore Katie Chase (one assist) keyed the Gladiators' overall advantage in the draws of 26-3, including victories in the first eight draws of the game and 13 of 14 by halftime.

"The draws are really important. Of course you want the ball. You never want the other team to have a chance to score. But I can put the draw wherever, except if I don't have anyone in the circle that can get it, there's really no use putting it anywhere," Grogan said. "Kristy Black has a really good first step, and so does Katie Chase. Alayna Markwordt's really good on ground balls in the circle."

Black (five ground balls) was the primary catalyst on the winning of 10 draws on her own, with six from Grogan and five each from Chase and Markwordt

"We were really pumped up for this game. We came to watch them against Mount Hebron, and we didn't expect that game to be as intense as it was," Grogan said. "But we were like, 'Wow, Centennial's really good, we really need to get pumped up for them.' We had a really good couple of practices and we really got pumped up for this game."

Junior Brie Kitchelt scored four times, senior Alyssa Felix scored three times, University of Vermont-bound senior Lauren Giraldi had a goal and two assists, sophomore Hannah Tack scored twice, and defender Tara Sone, once for the Gladiators.

"We came out very strong and we got the draw right away, right off the bat. We brought it down there and Kristy took the first shot, low shot right into the goal. That definitely set the tone for us," said Markwordt, whose Eagles converted on their first four shots of the game.

"We just knew that if we kept getting the draws, settling it down and taking smart shots that we would be able to win this game, and that's exactly what we did," Markwordt said. "I definitely think it all depends on if everyone is in the zone or not. But we come out each game and we get better at our offense. The first few games we weren't really clicking, but now, we have it together, we know exactly what to do, where to cut and that's helped us each game."

One of the day's more spectacular plays was on the Gladiators' 15th score, which Kitchelt fired in from behind her back and over her right shoulder from within a few feet of the goal for a lead of 15-5.

"Kristy did a great ground-ball pickup and she passed it to me, and I really didn't think that I had an angle or the time to turn right, so I just thought that the best shot to beat the goalie was from behind the back," said Kitchelt. "It was our adrenalin that was really pushing us to make those fast breaks and those shots and I think it went really well for us."

Centennial's Chloe Heckman, Amelia Aburn, Laura Burrows, Jenny Michael, Sarah Parks and Julia Benjamin all scored once each for the Eagles (4-1 league, 6-2 overall), who were coming off of Tuesday's 7-5 victory over perennial state power Mount Hebron in which goalie Mary Teeters registered 19 saves.

Parks and Morgan Ashcroft scored twice each, and Heckman, Burrows and Leanne Catalano, once each against Mount Hebron, which lost its first league game since the Eagles defeated the Vikings, 3-2, in 1990.

The Vikings have dominated county play since the winning their first of 19 titles in 1988, and have won 15 state titles -- including the past 11 consecutively.

But the Eagles were a well-scouted team going against the Gladiators' defense, and found themselves in early hole as Glenelg's goalie Katie Beaver (seven saves) made stops on Centennial's first three shots.

"Basically all that we've been working on is defense because we've known we know how to shoot. We've known different techniques on attack after we came to watch the Centennial Mount Hebron game," said Clemson-bound defender Kate Selfridge, whose twin brother, Jon, anchored the Gladiators' boys to last year's Class 3A-2A state title as a goalie.

Selfridge, seniors Brooke Costantino and Tara Sones and junior Kendall Church represented the Gladiators' starting defensive unit.

"We decided that Centennial's defense is what we'd strive to be. We wanted to crash just like they did because their defense is very solid on their crash," Selfridge said. "So all that we've been working on for the past couple of weeks is crashing into the 8 on shooters and sliding and talking."

Selfridge also credited reserves junior Skylar Marcoux, sophomore Ellie Axenfeld and freshman Taylor Salandra for their defensive support.

"Everyone got a little piece of the action and got to see what it's like to play defense on such a strong team because they really are strong," Selfridge said. "We really didn't expect such a great win today, but we really worked hard on it."

Coached by Katie Clark, a 1995 Mount Hebron graduate, the Eagles' win over the Mount Hebron had followed the Vikings' 18-9, loss on April 5 to John Carroll of Harford County, one that was the program's first setback to a Maryland team in 10 years.

The loss to the Patriots was the first for the Vikings, winners of 11 straight state titles, since falling to St. Mary's in April of 1988. Last year, the Vikings had a streak of 103-games ended by New York's West Genesee.


Glenelg 21, Centennial 6

Glenelg                10               11                       21

Centennial             3                 3                       6

Goals: G- Black 5, Markwordt 5, Kitchelt 4, Felix 3, Tack 2, Giraldi, Sones. C- Heckman, Aburn, Burrows, Michael, Parks, Benjamin. Assists: G- Markwordt 3, Black 2, Giraldi 2, Grogan, Chase.  C- None. Saves: G- Beaver 7. C- Teeters 6, Knecht 2.

Half: 10-3, G