Memorable year comes to close for Mars girls lacrosse
UNIVERSITY PARK — Mars wishes it could have the first five minutes back, for it was during that time that Bishop Shanahan built a lead the Planets were never able to overcome.
The Eagles won the first four draws of Saturday's contest, a PIAA Class 2A girls lacrosse quarterfinal at Penn State University's Panzer Stadium, and turned the possessions into four goals. Caitlyn Hubiak scored twice while teammates Annabelle Wiedel and Silvia Baptista also found the net to give early control to Bishop Shanahan, which went on to win the game, 10-6.
"We had to adjust to their style of play," said Planets coach Abby Latona. "They had a lot of movement with their attack and threw a high-pressure defense at us that we're not used to facing."
"We needed to get our heads in the game," said Mars senior defender Emma Grell. "We had to push each other to be our best and we said 'We got this.'"
Mars steadied itself with its own strong push on the attack, which led to McKenna Merritt's goal with 17:54 left in the half. Merritt scored again and Charlotte Stamper followed, both after controlling a rebound just after a save from Eagles goalie Izzy Sawicki, to make it 6-3 with just over six minutes before the break.
Wiedel and Stella Dambro both put a shot past Mars' Ella Roach for an 8-3 lead with one half to play.
"Our scoring has been balanced this year," said Eagles coach Kacy Small. "We've had multiple players score multiple goals in every game.
"Early on today, our spacing was good on the attack and winning all of those draws obviously helped."
To have any chance of rallying, Mars needed a strong second half from Roach and the sophomore responded by making seven of her nine saves in the final 25 minutes while not allowing another goal until Sam D'Addezio scored with exactly six minutes left in the game to make it 9-5.
"Ella crushed it in the second half," Latona said. "I'm so proud of her."
Mars received a huge boost when Mya Cote scored just 45 seconds into the second half, but despite a strong offensive push, received just two more scores the rest of the game — from Stamper with 10:42 left and Cote with 3:10 remaining. The latter score cut Mars' deficit to 9-6 and the Planets had a chance to draw closer, but turned the ball over with 90 seconds on the clock.
Bishop Shanahan (16-7-1) lost to Mount St. Joseph by one goal in the District 1 title game in late May, then defeated Southern Lehigh by a single tally in the PIAA first round on Tuesday. Small said it didn't feel like his team was up by multiple goals late in Saturday's contest.
"It never feels like a cushion," he said. "We've played close games all year, played overtime in a couple of games and had a number decided by one goal. We leaned on that experience today. Getting off to the fast start helped. That's something we didn't get recently."
Merritt, Stamper and Cote each scored twice in the loss. Baptista led the Eagles with three goals while Sawicki made nine saves in net.
The Planets turned in a memorable 2023 campaign..
"A 21-2 record, a section and a WPIAL championship, it was a great season," said Latona.
Grell added: "I couldn't have asked for better teammates or coaches."