A patient, balanced offense and strong work in the draw circle helped Towson girls lacrosse control the tempo and earn a 10-8 victory over Catonsville in the Class 3A North Region I semifinals.
Chloe Gibson (two goals, three assists), Finlay Harmon (two goals, one assist), Madden SySantos (two goals) and Leila Mazhari (two goals) led the Generals (7-6). Casey Fisher (four goals) and Kate Roberson (three goals) powered the Comets.
In addition to scoring, Harmon was tenacious in the draw circle.
“Our draws, we we really worked together and our communication was on point and that really helped us to be successful,” Harmon said.
When Harmon wasn’t collecting the draw, SySantos was there scooping up ground balls.
“We earned the draw, we worked together and we came down and we played controlled offense the way we needed to,” Towson coach Taylor Carhart said.
That enabled the Generals to control the pace, unlike in a 14-13 loss to the Comets in their previous meeting.
“I think this game we really focused on ourselves,” Harmon said. “We knew that we had to come out with a lot of energy and a lot of focus and we really had to work because we knew that Catonsville was a good team and we were ready today and we really wanted to keep playing together because we are so unified.”
“[Harmon] is awesome. She’s just an all-around gritty player for me and she does it all,” Carhart said. ‘When I tell her to change something, she listens. She’s coachable. She is just an all-around great player.”
Towson led 2-0 after the first quarter thanks to a pair of goals by Leila Mazhari. The Generals extended the lead to 4-1 at halftime on a goal by Harmon off an assist from Gibson and one by Gibson off Lily Franklin’s assist.
Fisher scored after a feed by Abby Tartal early in the second quarter to cut the lead to one, but that was the closest the Comets would get the rest of the game.
“They made us adjust to a different game and I think we were able to keep up the speed. We just couldn’t get it in the back of the net,” Catonsville coach Cantey Bailey said. “We couldn’t go on a run and we’d try to and something would happen to ruin it. We are a team that builds on runs; we build on that momentum of it and unfortunately we couldn’t do that today.”
In the second and third quarters, Catonsville had six free-position opportunities but converted only one.
Towson gained more momentum with under 10 seconds left in the third quarter when Lily Holman scored off Gibson’s assist, making it 7-3 heading into the fourth quarter.
In the fourth quarter, the Comets rallied three times to within two goals. Maeve Miller scored with five minutes left to make it 8-6, but SySantos got the ground ball on Harmon’s next draw and she scored after a rebound of a shot by Gabi Galvez to give Towson a 9-6 advantage with 3:28 left in the game.
Roberson, who had seven goals in the Comets’ previous win over Towson, cut the lead to two with 1:46 remaining, but Galvez bumped the lead back to three with 1:32 left after Harmon won the draw.
Harmon won the next draw, but after a turnover, Fisher scored the final goal of the game with just under a minute left. Harmon corralled the final draw and the Generals ran out the clock.
“As a team we always say, like the fourth quarter is ours and we try to pick ourselves up after they score and we know that we are never out of it,” Harmon said.
Carhart praised her top scorers Gibson and Harmon for holding the offense together.
“Chloe is a consistent player for me every game, everyone is bound to make mistakes, but Chloe and Finlay and just our team, when one person makes a mistake somebody else steps up and we are just all-around threats on the field which is something that is hard to beat,” she said.
On defense, goalie Olive Auvil (seven saves) made some timely stops, and she had some help in front of her.
“I’m going to give a shout out to my goalie, I think Olive played fantastic and I think Elise Longanecker, she’s our defensive QB back there and our freshman Teagan [Kavanaugh], she just did an excellent job all-around today,” Carhart said.
Towson advances to the regional final at Dulaney on Monday at 4 p.m.
Towson — 2 2 3 3 — 10
Catonsville — 0 1 2 5 — 8
Goals: Tow — Chloe Gibson 2, Finlay Harmon 2, Madden SySantos 2, Leila Mazhari 2, Lily Holman 1, Gabi Galvez 1; Cat – Casey Fisher 4, Kate Roberson 3, Maeve Miller 1; Assists: Tow – Gibson 3,Harmon 1, Holman 1, Lily Franklin 1; Cat – Abby Tartal 2, Kaitlyn Welsh 1. Saves: Tow— Olive Auvil 7; Cat – Ava Bruns 6.
