After a one-goal loss to Mercy last month, the Mount de Sales girls lacrosse team vowed to clean up some of the mistakes that had been plaguing its offense.
In Saturday night’s Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland B Conference final, the Sailors put the progress they’d made on full display at USA Lacrosse in Sparks.
Playing a near-flawless first 17 minutes, Mount de Sales built an early six-goal lead against top-seeded Mercy, getting four goals from junior Grace Herman and three each from senior Mackenzie Conley and junior Ella Powers in a 15-8 win to earn their first IAAM crown.
The win was the culmination of a three-year period in which the Sailors spent two seasons near the bottom of the A Conference, dropped to the B Conference this season and improved throughout the spring.
“They were beaten down last year,” Mount de Sales coach Amy Donahue said. “This year, our goal from the very beginning was to win the championship here. To me, it says that the girls have grown. Every game they’ve grown and they’ve learned from their mistakes. This game, I thought, was a beautiful example of not making a ton of crazy mistakes.”
The Sailors (9-6) had lost to Mercy by a goal earlier this season, but knew they were capable of bigger things. So they went to work, both in the classroom and on the field.
“We watched film,” Donahue said. “We knew we really needed to slide, and worked a lot on guarding 1-on-1s. We held them 1-on-1 pretty well, and we really cut well and fed well in the first half. Just getting that start where everybody was shooting, everyone was scoring, just gave the girls confidence.”
Mount de Sales led from the outset in this one, building a 7-1 lead after the first 17:02 by winning ground balls, forcing poor shots and making the most of its offensive chances, including two goals and an assist by Herman. Senior goalie Mary Beth Zaleski also made several point-blank saves during the stretch.
“Honestly, I think it was just the momentum off the draw,” Herman said, “Once we get going, we really, really get going. … Everyone got a goal on the offense, and that really helped boost everyone’s confidence.”
Mercy, however, soon clawed back into it by turning draw controls into goals. When Lilly Lackner scored off a feed from fellow freshman Audrey Hogrebe with 8:08 left before halftime, the Magic had cut the deficit to 8-5.
Senior Calleigh Hayes finished with a game-high five goals for Mercy (12-2), whose only other loss had come in the season opener against A Conference foe Roland Park.
But the comeback was not to be. Mount de Sales regained command with five straight goals over a span of 9:33 to extend its lead to 13-5 by early in the fourth quarter.
“Credit to them,” Magic coach Brian Casserly said. “They came out, they were ready to play. We took a couple bad shots early and might’ve shot their goalie hot. … She made a bunch of really good saves early. We took some ill-advised shots and they came down on their end and did their job. They looked fast, they looked athletic.”
For Mercy, the night marked a bitter end to an otherwise stellar season.
“Sometimes you’re the hammer, sometimes you’re the nail,” Casserly said. “Unfortunately, today we were the nail.”
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IAAM B Conference Final
(at USA Lacrosse)
Mount de Sales 15, Mercy 8
Goals: MDS-Herman 4, Powers 3, Conley 3, Mundorf 2, Cunningham, Sabatelli, Smith; M-Hayees 5, Lackner, Schmith, Johnson.
Assists: MDS-Powers; M-Lackner 2, Hogrebe. Saves: MDS-Zaleski 6; M-Pross 4. Half: Mount de Sales, 8-3.