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Eagle girls lacrosse falls to OP, 14-13, in playoffs, ending a strong year
Stalling with a lead.
It only sounds crazy for track runners, but it can be just as costly in any other sport.
The Liberty High girls lacrosse team, for example, led Osbourn Park by two goals late in the second half of last Thursday's Cedar Run District quarterfinals, and wound up losing 14-13.
“We all wanted the win so bad that we were trying to stall instead of going to the goal,” Liberty junior Toni Anne Gambale said after the season-ending loss in Bealeton. “We realized we needed to get to that goal, but then their defense shut us out.”
Leading 11-9 with 11 minutes, 9 seconds remaining, fourth-seeded Liberty (7-5) shied away from the 12-meter fan area in front of the rival goal, and did little more than pass the ball around the perimeter.
Consequently, No. 5 Osbourn Park forced a pair of turnovers and Aidan Priest turned them into goals to tie the game at 11-11 with 4:59 remaining. The Yellow Jackets then took the lead when Priest scooped up a deflected ball and scored with 4:25 remaining.
“You don’t stall with 10 minutes left in a game when you’re up by two against an equally matched team,” Liberty coach Ken McInnis said. “Why they were doing that, I have no idea….I feel a little hoarse telling them to go to the net.”
Trailing 12-11 after Osbourn Park’s 3-0 run, Liberty’s Cassie Stroud slipped a shot around the left post of the OP goal to tie the game with 4:09 remaining, but Sara Reedy responded less than 30 seconds later to give the Yellow Jackets a 13-12 lead.
The Eagles again tied the game with 1:59 remaining on a Sarah Doucet goal, but Osbourn Park’s Reedy scored the game-winner with 33 seconds left.
Supplemented by three goals apiece from Priest and Whitney Thomas, Reedy led OP with five goals, scoring that final goal on a free-position shot awarded after a foul was called on Liberty inside the fan.
“Both sides were playing good defense, but all the free shots that were handed out tonight, it was ridiculous for both sides,” McInnis said...
See the Wednesday print edition of the Fauquier Times-Democrat for the complete story.
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