Decatur Tops Kent Island for Bayside Title

BERLIN- It took a little while for the Stephen Decatur women's varsity lacrosse team to get the offense cranked up in the rain and slop in the Bayside Conference championship on Tuesday, but the Seahawks found their groove and rolled to a 14-9 win over north division champion Kent Island to claim their fourth straight title and remain unbeaten on the season.

Off and on showers all day on Tuesday put the Bayside Conference championship double-header at Wicomico County Stadium in doubt. In the first game, the previously unbeaten Parkside boys' team fell to north champion Kent Island, 8-6, for its first loss of the season. The Decatur girls had to wonder if their bid for a perfect season in the nightcap also against Kent Island would end the same way and for a while, it appeared it might.

While the weather held off for the boys' title game and the start of the girls' championship, the skies opened up shortly after the first draw and rain fell throughout the contest. The field, already severely damaged during the first game only got worse as the girls' game got started. Decatur found itself behind, 3-0, before the Seahawks found a way to put the rain and the sloppy field behind them.

The Seahawks did eventually find their groove and started clicking on offense and pulled away from Kent Island for the 14-9 conference championship win. Just as they have done for most of the season, the Seahawks were led on offense by Olivia Turner and Leigh Ann Flounlacker, who scored four goals each. Alyssa Hardesty also contributed with two goals.

The conference championship game this week was eerily similar to last year. Decatur entered last year's Bayside championship game against Kent Island undefeated and beat the Buccaneers, 13-5, in the title game to claim their third straight.

Before the conference championship game was even played on Tuesday, the undefeated Seahawks were named the top-seed in the state Class 3A-2A East Region tournament, which got underway last night. The Seahawks earned a first-round bye and will play eight-seed Bennett tomorrow at home at 10 a.m.

Decatur beat Bennett twice already this year by a combined scored of 30-6. Lurking on the other side of the 3A-2A East bracket are a couple of familiar foes in Kent Island and Easton along with Annapolis. The other number one seeds in the Class 3A-2A tournament include Fallston (North), Damascus (West), and Mount Hebron (South). Last year, undefeated Decatur was upset in the second round by Annapolis.