The girls lacrosse team honored its six seniors with a thrilling 7-6 victory over the Archbishop Mitty Monarchs on their senior night Friday evening.
Before the game, seniors attacker Caroline Bergan, attacker Annabella Cutcliffe, midfielder EB Hoffman, defender Elizabeth Poirier, attacker Lexi Nelson, and midfielder Ruby Pence were celebrated as they walked down an aisle formed by teammates. Students and family members packed the stands, waving posters and cheering them on for their final home game.
The Monarchs came out strong, winning the opening draw and dominating early possession. Despite their initial shots going wide, they eventually found the back of the net with 10 minutes left in the quarter, bringing them up 1-0.
However, the Bears responded quickly. After a midfield interception, Pence sprinted the ball upfield and nearly scored but had a narrow miss. Minutes later, Nelson drew a foul, maintained possession, and fired a long-range shot into the net from the 20-yard line, tying the game 1-1 with seven minutes to go.
The momentum shifted further when Pence snagged another steal and powered the Bears back on offense, finishing the play with a clean shot to the bottom right of the net, giving the Bears a 2-1 lead.
An interception from sophomore attacker Aryn Roodman shut down Mitty’s next shot attempt, and the Bears maintained high pressure until the Monarchs equalized with three minutes remaining. A final save by sophomore goalkeeper Stella Mattsson kept the game even, ending the first quarter 2-2.
The second quarter started with new energy. After drawing a foul near the crease, Nelson took advantage of the free position and ripped a shot into the net, putting the Bears up 3-2.
Soon after, M-A continued to pressure Mitty’s defense. Junior midfielder Molly Gray moved the ball to Nelson at the top, who quickly found junior offender Ryland Caelius cutting through the middle. Caelius finished the play with a clean shot, extending the Bears’ lead to 4-2 with 10 minutes left.
The Monarchs did not back down, responding with a quick transition goal to narrow the gap to 4-3. They began to control the ball, cycling it around the back of the goal in long offensive sets.
However, the Bears’ defense held strong, anchored by key saves from junior goalkeeper Eloise Yuk. Gaining possession, the Bears transitioned quickly as Nelson cleared the ball downfield and passed it to Caelius who ran the ball close to the crease. Calelius appeared to score a critical goal, but it was called a crease violation, bringing M-A back to their 4-3 lead with four minutes remaining in the quarter.
The Bears continue to apply offensive pressure, opening up another goal opportunity that was denied by the Monarchs’ goalkeeper. With one minute left in the second quarter, junior midfielder Auden Jones capitalized on a free position shot, extending M-A’s lead to 5-3.
Mitty won the next draw, and tried to find a hole in M-A’s defense, but the Bears stood strong. Once M-A regained possession, junior midfielder Mae Kunihiro fired the ball past the defenders and right into the goal, extending M-A’s lead to 6-3.
The Monarchs attempted one final push before the whistle, but their efforts fell short. M-A entered halftime with a comfortable 6-3 lead.
The third quarter opened slowly, with back and forth possession and no shot attempts. The Bears finally gained a solid hold on the ball, as junior attacker Ellie Dillon found an opening and hit a shot past the goalkeeper to extend the Bears’ lead to 7-3 with nine minutes left in the quarter.
Over the next six minutes, defense tightened up and neither team managed to convert, limiting scoring opportunities.
Mitty kept pushing and finally broke through with a successful free position shot, bringing the score to 7-4 with three minutes left. Keeping that momentum, the Monarchs struck again with just 14 seconds on the clock, narrowing the gap to 7-5.
M-A gained the next draw, but time ran out in the third quarter before they could get a shot in. The Bears’ lead had now diminished to 7-5.
“In the third quarter, our defense was lacking on the slides and we didn’t score any goals,” sophomore midfielder Brooke Ver Ploeg said.
M-A came back to the final quarter refocused and aggressive. Their offense fired three on target shots early into the quarter, but each shot was either saved by the Monarchs’ goalkeeper or missed wide.
Despite the Bears’ scoring drought, M-A maintained their control of the game, dominating possession and limiting Mitty’s offensive looks. The Bears kept the Monarchs away from the goal until they managed to intercept a pass and capitalized, making it a one-goal game at 7-6 with seven minutes remaining.
Though the Monarchs threatened the lead, the Bears’ defense stood strong for the remainder of the match. Both teams saw shots denied by the goalkeepers, and the final minutes were filled with trading possession and a lack of scoring opportunities.
M-A managed to hang on to their lead down to the final second, ending the game 7-6.
“We were all playing for the seniors, so we wanted to leave it all out on the field and have a good time,” Kunihiro said.
“We’ve done so much together as a team and this is our biggest competition in the league, so it was a really big deal to win,” Nelson said. “I’ve been playing with these girls for my whole life, so it was super special.”
The Bears now head into their first round of CCS on May 13th.
