On Thursday night, Manual girls’ varsity lacrosse played Mercy in their final regular season game at Rachel Baker Field. While Mercy gained an early lead, Manual’s offense picked up speed, scoring 21 goals and defeating Mercy 21-11.
First Half:
The first goal of the game came early when Manual’s Cameron Breier (#21, 12) scored in the first sixty seconds.
Quickly after, Mercy went on a scoring run. They scored three goals in around three minutes, at the 7:56, 7:15 and 5:13 marks of the first quarter. With the Jaguars suddenly up 3-1, the Crimsons elected to use their first timeout of the game shortly after Mercy’s third goal.
After the timeout, several penalties were called on Manual, resulting in possessions for Mercy. However, Manual’s Morgan Schmidt (#7, 11) finally ended the scoring run with a goal as the quarter ended.
“We have to make sure we come out strong at the beginning and set the tone for our game in the first quarter…” Sophie Young (#5, 12) said.
After Schmidt’s goal, the Crimson’s offense began picking up, led by Breier and several others. Breier, who recorded eight goals for the night, scored three times in the first two minutes of the second quarter.
Other Crimsons also became involved, with two goals from Brooklyn Godwin (#4,10), another by Schmidt and one by Samantha Cole (#13, 10) to close out the half. The Crimsons headed into the half with an 11-5 lead.
Halftime:
At halftime, Manual athletic trainer Maggie Gregg was recognized for her work with the athletic department. After two years with Manual, she will be moving to California to pursue athletic training at the collegiate level.
Second Half:
The Crimson offense remained hot in the third quarter. Leah Schuhmann (#54,12), scored directly out of halftime and Audrey Donaldson (#3, 11) soon followed with another goal off of an assist from Breier.
Manual continued to score, but Mercy did not go away easily. They scored four times in the third quarter and looked to be mounting a comeback.
In the end, however, the Crimson offense was too much for the Jaguars. Schmidt scored three more times in the fourth quarter, once on a hat trick. Manual was able to confuse and overwhelm Mercy with continuous ball movement and by scoring often. The Jaguars were, however, able to steal a ground ball from Manual and score.
Even so, additional points from Breier and Schumann kept the pressure on and stopped Mercy from gaining much on the Crimsons. As the final buzzer sounded, Manual emerged victorious, defeating Mercy by a final score of 21-11.
“I wish we had more games this season, but now that we are in the playoffs, our mentality has shifted from “we want to win and should win” to “we need to win.” We have been thought of as the underdogs this regular season but we are excited to prove that teams should not underestimate us in the postseason,” Young said.
As the girls’ lacrosse regular season comes to a close, the Crimson prepare for the regional tournament, The first round will begin on Tuesday, May 7 at Rachel Baker Field.
