Collegiate couldn’t slow down St. Anne’s-Belfield’s girls lacrosse’s Julia Haney down the stretch as the junior scored two of the Saints final three goals and assisted on the other.
But the Cougars, ranked No. 3 in VISAA’s Division I, did manage a counterpunch, with Notre Dame-bound Sydney Cardozo scoring with five seconds to play to lift Collegiate to an 11-10 victory over No. 4 STAB to secure the No. 1 seed in the League of Independent Schools tournament that starts next week.
Haney took control of the game down the stretch after the Saints’ sideline loudly encouraged her to demand the ball, drawing a series of 8-meter shots with aggressive drives toward the cage. She scored to make the game 7-7, then again to tie it at 8-8 with 7:04 to play. She then connected with Caroline DiGiacomo to put the Saints up 9-8. Collegiate evened the game and then took a 10-9 lead with 1:46 left.
Haney had one more in her, tying the game at 10-10 with 48.9 seconds to play, but Collegiate managed to hold on for the final shot, with Cardozo missing once and then catching her own rebound in the air at point blank range and finishing it off with five seconds left on the clock.
Haney finished with four goals and a pair of assists. Digiacomo notched four goals and an assist while Audrey Schreck had a goal and assist. Virginia Speidel rounded out the scoring with a goal.
Brittany Shoeb continued a fantastic first season in the cage for the Saints with 17 saves on the afternoon.
Cardozo finished with four goals an assist for Collegiate while Campbell Brewer, a junior who is committed to Dartmouth, posted a hat trick. Collegiate goalie Chloe Carnes had a whale of a game too, holding the speedy Saints to just two goals before the break.
Collegiate and STAB will both jump into LIS tournament play next week as the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds respectively. The quarterfinals begin Tuesday.
