CLASS 4A-3A NORTH REGION GIRLS' LACROSSE: OWLS TALONS DIG DEEP, 16-11

by Lem Satterfield

Urbana of Frederick County traveled to Westminster for Thursday night's Class 4A-3A North Regional championship clash of of the birds of prey.

And in the end, it was the homestanding Owls whose talons dug deepest, as they gouged their way out of an early hole for a come-from-behind, 16-11 victory which earns Westminster a berth opposite Severna Park of Anne Arundel County in Saturday's 3 p.m. Class 4A-3A state semifinal at North Carroll.

Ashley Rohrbach scored four times and assisted on three other goals, Jocelyn Jamison and Julie Wolfinger scored twice each with as many assists, Beth Jankusa scored three times, and Amber Nichols scored twice with an assist as the Owls overcame two separate three-goal deficits early on to finish off their rivals.

Alissa Semones scored twice, J Sussman scored once, and Lindsey Kibler and Jen Hardesty each contributed one of the Owls' nine assists overall.

Although the Owls were playing at their place -- in particular, the school's Ruby Field -- the visiting Hawks' large contingent of supporters negated any feeling of a home field advantage.

In fact, it was the Hawks (9-5-1) who soared to early leads of 3-0, and, 4-1, respectively, at 17:35, and, 15:54, of the first half before the Owls (12- 4), themselves, took flight.

The scoreless Owls faced the three-goal deficit when they were jump-started by a heads-up play by Jamison, who swiped the rebound of a blocked shot off the stick of the Hawks' goalie and put away her team's first score at the game's 16:15 mark.

Down, 4-1, the Owls then scored five straight times, taking their first lead, 5-4, on Wolfinger's free-position goal at 12:03.

The Owls' lead was then pushed to 6-4, thanks, yet again, to the hustle of Jamison. Jamison's aggressive riding flustered a defender into making an errant pass, which the Owls' player, subsequently, scooped off of the ground.

A nifty move resulted in Jamison's then firing the ball to the crease, where Rohrbach was waiting to finish the ball into the nets, from the doorstep, with 11 minutes left in the half.

Although the Owls never trailed again, the Hawks, nevertheless, were not grounded.

Successive goals by the Hawks' Hannah McBee (two goals) and Maggie Roundy (four goals) tied the game at 6-6 with 8:21 left in the half.

But the Owls then received successive scores from Semones (assisted by Nichols), Wolfinger and Jankusa, the latter 16 seconds before the intermission, to regain their momentum heading into the lockerroom.

To start the second half, the Hawks threatened to begin as they did the start of the game: By scoring.

And they did so rather swiftly.

Goals by Roundy and Kelsy Heine (four goals) were separated by a mere 26 seconds, and had the Hawks within, 9-8, with 21:31 left to play.

But the Owls responded in kind with successive scores from Rohrbach and Nichols that made it, 11-8, with 19:22 remaining.

The Hawks were within, 11-9, before the Owls scored five of the next six times for a lead of 16-10 with 1:53 on the clock.

Urbana kept after Westminster, fighting for every ground ball, errant pass and with great defense. With a "never quit" mindset put into action, the game was on until the final whistle, as the Hawks' last goal was scored with a little over five seconds remaining.