BERLIN- Worcester Prep’s girls’ varsity lacrosse team survived a couple of second-half comeback attempts on Monday before pulling away from Gunston, 20-12, in the semifinals of the Eastern Shore Independent Athletic Conference (ESIAC) tournament.
Already ahead, 9-4, late in the first half, the Mallards got a goal by Mary Clare Regan with under a minute to go to take a 10-4 lead into halftime. The Herons regrouped at the half and came out firing in the second quarter, however. Gunston got a goal with just over 20 minutes remaining in the game to cut the lead to 10-5. Twenty-one seconds later, Gunston scored again at the 20:07 mark to cut the lead to 10-6. With 19:16 left in the game, the Herons scored another goal to cut the lead to 10-7 and what once looked like a rout for Worcester had turned into a tight game.
Worcester’s Lilly DiNardo stopped the Gunston run with a great quick-stick goal on the crease off an assist by Alex Bruder to extend the lead to 11-7. Gunston scored with 11:49 remaining to cut the lead to just three goals again at 11-8. However, Dinardo, who enjoyed a big second half, scored again at the 11:27 mark to extend Worcester’s lead to 12-8.
Again, Gunston answered, scoring a goal at the 10:28 mark in the second half to cut the Mallards’ lead to 12-9. Worcester then went on the attack, scoring four goals in a span of just over two minutes to pull away again. DiNardo scored a fast-break goal at the 10:11 mark to put Worcester ahead, 13-9. Twenty-five seconds later, Ali Greer scooped up the ball in front of the Gunston goal in an unsettled situation and fired a shot home to extend Worcester’s lead to 14-9.
Caroline Hudson got in the act with a goal for Worcester with 9:29 remaining to extend the lead to 15-9, and Bruder punctuated the Mallards’ run with a penalty shot goal with 8:56 left to extend the lead to 16-9. Gunston was not done yet, however, and made another big run at the Mallards. The Herons scored with 7:51 remaining to cut the lead to 16-10 and scored again 30 seconds later to cut it to 16-11. Gunston scored another goal, its third in the span of one minute, at the 6:36 mark to cut the lead to 16-12.
However, the Mallards eventually wore down Gunston and pulled away for the 20-12 win to advance in the tournament. Kristen Schriver scored with 4:56 left to extend Worcester’s lead to 17-12 and added another goal at 3:22 to push it to 18-12. Regan scored for the Mallards with 1:58 remaining to make it 19-12, and Erica Martin rounded out the Worcester scoring with a goal as time expired to finish the game at 20-12.