By Liz Keller/Scrimmageplaycva.com contributor
Tuesday’s lacrosse game between St. Anne’s-Belfield and Collegiate featured two of the top teams in the state, so it came as little surprise that the outcome wasn’t decided until the final minute.
The Saints withstood a fast and furious rally from the Cougars and hung on for the 12-11 victory to stay unbeaten this season.
“That was a great high school girls lacrosse game,” St. Anne’s coach Mary Blake said. “That’s what I told the girls I want, ‘play hard and I want a great lacrosse game.’ It was a great rally by (Collegiate), they got the momentum, but our goalkeeper Catherine Towers, I felt she kept us in it a lot of times. My hat’s off to her, she did a fantastic job.”
St. Anne’s (3-0) led by one at halftime, but scored a flurry of goals to start the second half to take control.
During that stretch, the Saints controlled the draw and moved the ball effectively around the field. Corinna Coffin scored a pair of goals and Addi Bolin added three more as the defending Division II champions tallied five unanswered goals during that spurt.
Amanda Johnson scored one of her team-high five goals for the Cougars to make it 11-6 with 17:47 remaining, but the Saints responded quickly. Bolin, who led the way with six goals, shot through a pair of defenders for another goal and give STAB a sizeable 12-6 advantage.
“We just knew they were going to come after us only being up by one at halftime,” said Bolin, who will take her talents to George Washington University next year. “We wanted to come up and pound them in and get a quick lead so we had a cushion for the second half.”
However, the Cougars battled back as they continued to put pressure on the ball. Christine Thexton scored back-to-back goals and Collegiate, the 2010 Division I runner-up, began its comeback. Johnson added another goal as the Cougars cut the deficit to 12-9 with 5:23 to play. A few minutes later, Austin Pruitt got a takeaway, sprinted down the field on the fastbreak and passed the ball to Brooke Doxey, who flipped it into the cage.
Thexton’s hard shot in the corner with 1:09 remaining trimmed the lead to one.
But Towers and the Saints’ defense clamped down during the stretch. St. Anne’s got possession of the ball and ran out the clock for the win.
“Being down in the second half we just had a little bit of a letdown and I was really proud with the way we were able to come back,” Collegiate coach Annie Richards said. “The momentum shift was definitely our way and we started winning draws and we started making better turnovers and we started finishing finally. But their goalie had a great game, a really, really impressive game.”
Towers was solid in goal, making stop after stop as the Cougars attacked the cage. Towers finished with 14 saves. Also impressive for the Saints was sophomore Lila Satterfield, who recorded a hat trick. Coffin added three goals and Kate McCullough had a pair of assists.
“When we were playing well it was because we controlled that midfield,” Blake said. “We don’t have to just run it through, we’ve got a lot of nice passing and patience. Those are the two things I talked to them about – possession and patience.”
Collegiate plays host to St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes on Friday, while St. Anne’s-Belfield will travel to Norfolk Academy.
