Girls lacrosse defeats Academy of the Holy Names
The girls lacrosse team won against Academy of the Holy Names at Tampa Catholic, leading them to the next round of the playoffs.
After the first half, during which AHN maintained a stagnant possession of the ball for nearly 20 minutes, head coach Jayne Chapman said the game so far had been very boring.
“Academy of the Holy Names decided to just stall out the entire first half so that they would minimize the score. I’m really proud of our girls for staying disciplined and patient. We’re up by two goals, we can win by two goals. They knew that, and they didn’t lose their cool, so more power to them,” said Chapman.
Junior Alexandra Schobert lauded the team’s work.
“Offense is working hard; defense is on fire. We’re just trying to keep it on the offensive side, get the possession,” said Schobert.
Sophomore Lexi Ashby started and played the majority of the game.
“The first half was really slow. It was really frustrating because they were holding it the whole time, and we play a more high intensity game,” said Ashby.
“I think the second half is looking a lot better. Our team is looking good as a whole because everyone is passing around, everyone’s getting a lot of touches, so I think that we’re looking pretty good this half. It’s going well, in our favor, hopefully we keep it up for the rest of the game,”
Freshman Gigi Elliott said the excitement of the team kept spirits up. “Everyone is really hype – that’s why we’re doing well,” said Elliott.
Junior Kinsey Whittaker also commented on the value of the team’s support.
“It’s the best feeling when the whole team from the side cheers, it motivates them on the field,” said Whittaker.
Freshman Kiley Paro said the game was going well, despite the slow pace. Paro also noted a highlight of the game being the goalie’s efforts.
“Our goalie, Cassie Strickler, is doing really well this game, and she’s making a lot of good saves,” said Paro.
Senior Delaney Turton scored multiple times throughout the game.
“The first half of the game was really stressful because they had the possession the entire time and they were holding the ball,” said Turton midway through the second half.
“This half has been a lot more high pressure, trying to score goals to make sure that we have a big enough differential to go into playoffs with, but we’ve done pretty well with that. We have another game on Thursday night, and we’re not sure who we’re playing yet, but that’s, I believe, district finals or district semi-finals.”
At the end of the game, assistant coach Chelsea Walsh said they played a good game.
“I thought it came back to be a good game after what threw us off in the first half with the holding of the ball and everything, but all in all, I think we played our game really well and came out with a ‘w’ like we planned to,” said Walsh.
Senior Grace Owens said that although the game was initially frustrating, the team played well.
“I know that once we came out the second half, after we made a couple adjustments, we definitely turned it on and got some quick goals in, so that helped gain our momentum,” said Owens.
