With a six-goal lead, Broadneck’s No. 8 girls lacrosse team appeared well on its way to victory heading into the final 10 minutes of Wednesday night’s Class 4A girls lacrosse state championship. Dulaney, however, wouldn’t make it that easy.
The Lions cut the lead to one twice and took a shot in the waning seconds that ricocheted off the crossbar as the Bruins escaped with a 9-8 victory for their sixth state title and their third in a row.
Senior midfielder Mary Moore scored with 4:24 remaining to snap a five-goal Dulaney run and push the Bruins ahead, 9-7 Lions freshman Sarah Crowley cut the lead to one with a free-position goal with 2:23 to go.
Natalie Crowley won the last draw for Dulaney, but the Lions turned it over. The Bruins tried to run out the clock but turned the ball over with 34 seconds left. Anna Jones had one last shot for the Lions but hit the top pipe.
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After winning the championship in a rout last year, the Bruins (15-5) didn’t mind the excitement of a close game.
“I feel like that’s what we want to happen in a state game,” senior midfielder Lexi Dupcak said. “Last year, it was a fun game, everyone got to play… but I like the close games. It’s fun to go out with a one-goal game.”
Moore, who led the Bruins with three goals and an assist, said, “It felt good to work for it.”
For the Bruins, the experience of playing in six one-goal games during the regular season helped in the final minutes of the title game at Stevenson University. They split those games, so they knew what it felt like to lose them and they drew on that experience.
“We just kind of look at it like any other game,” senior midfielder Lilly Kelley said. “We said that in warmups, ‘It’s just another game. It’s just another game.’ We’ve had plenty of games that have come down to one or two goals … We have tons of experience with that, so just being calm and playing how we like to play.”
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Broadneck coach Katy Kelley said this team faced more pressure to win than the teams of the past two seasons.
“We hear three-peat a lot and that adds another dimension of pressure,” Kelley said, “so you feel like you’re expected [to win] and that’s not always a great way to feel, so I think they had to handle not only a season where we had a lot of ups and downs, but also this expectation that we’re just going to come out here and be fine and we knew it wasn’t going to be like that. We respected Dulaney to the 10th degree… I’m proud of them for handling that too and then accomplishing it which is pretty cool.”
The Bruins opened the game at Stevenson University in Owings Mills with four goals, Moore scored two free-position goals, Olivia Orso scored a third and Dupcak also had a goal.
The Lions, who won six of the first eight draws, did not shoot well early but trailed just 5-1 at the half. The Bruins extended the lead to 8-2 when Dupcak fed Nora Lopes with 14:28 left.
Then Lilly Kelley picked up a yellow card and the Lions were man-up for two minutes.
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“The card was a situation we thought we could take advantage of,” Dulaney coach Kristi Korrow said, “I was like, ‘Let’s use this as a spark. Let’s get as many goals as we can while they’ve got a man down,’ and then Sarah started rolling and the offense started gelling a bit better and making things happen.”
Mia Connor, Sarah Crowley and Jones scored within 29 seconds to pull the Lions within 8-5.
Sarah Crowley, who finished with four goals, scored on a free position and then snatched the rebound after Bruins goalie Megan Shields saved Connor’s shot and fired it in the net to cut the lead to 8-7 with 5:41 left.
During the timeout after the yellow card, Korrow also switched Booke Ellis to the draw and the senior defender helped her teammates on the circle win the next four draws, enabling them to score quickly.
“I saw that they were pulling to themselves, so I just did anything that I could to mess them up, rather than do what I normally do.” Ellis said, “and Natalie (Crowley) and Elena (Emde), I trust them to get the ball on the circle, so I just told them where to go and I knew they would get it.”
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After the Lions cut the lead to one, the Bruins won the next draw on a foul and Moore netted what would hold up as the game winner.
“We got it around a few times like we needed to, ran some time off the clock and then I saw an opening and I went,” Moore said.
The Bruins won their third straight state tournament game over Dulaney, including the quarterfinal last season and the semifinal the year before. The Lions, who topped the Bruins for their first state title in 2005, have won three titles, the last in 2016.
The late rally made Wednesday’s loss a bit easier to handle, especially knowing they had come so close to getting the tying goal.
“We got the ball back in those last 20 seconds and Anna Jones hit the pipe with two-point-something to go,” Korrow said. “I’m just so proud of them. The guts and the heart they displayed today was phenomenal.”
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CLASS 4A STATE CHAMPIONSHIP
(At Stevenson University)
NO. 8 BROADNECK 9, DULANEY 8
DULANEY 1 7 — 8
BROADNECK 5 4 — 9
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GOALS: D—Sarah Crowley 4, Elena Emde, Mia Connor, Anna Jones, Natalie Crowley; B—Mary Moore 3, Sienna Miller 2, Lexi Dupcak, Olivia Orso, Lilly Kelley, Nora Lopes.
ASSISTS: D—Mia Connor; B—Mary Moore, Lexi Dupcak.
SAVES: D—Audrey Simoes 4; B—Megan Shields 6.
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