High School Lacrosse
POSTSEASON
May 17, 2007
Amazons take rough road to KLA championship
By
NATHAN CHAMBERS
BeyondTheDerby.com
Collegiate couldn’t take the easy road to the Kentucky Lacrosse Association High School Girls’ Division 1 championship. That was closed.
So the Amazons took the only road available - through unbeaten Manual and Kentucky Country Day - and reached the end with the trophy in their hands.
Three days after knocking off three-time defending champion and top seed Manual in the semifinals, the senior-led Amazons beat young but talented KCD 8-6 in the final at the University of Louisville on Thursday night.
"I don’t think anybody thought that we could pull it off," Collegiate senior Annie Decker said. "But we were able to do it."
"That’s what is so sweet," Collegiate coach Susan Harrison said. "People said, ‘Oh, they got lucky and beat the No. 1 team.’ But then we came back and beat the No. 2 team, too. That’s not luck. We deserve to be the champs. No one can take that away."
The Amazons (6-2-2), who finished fourth in the standings, lost to first-place Manual 9-7 on March 20, tied fifth-place Ballard on March 27, tied third-place Mercy on April 25, and lost to second-place KCD 12-8 in the schools’ Derby Cup on April 28. They had to beat three of those teams in the tournament.
"We had kind of a rough season," Collegiate senior Emily Vieth said. "It feels so good to come through it and win."
Nine of the 23 players on Collegiate’s varsity roster are seniors. They were freshmen when Harrison started the girls’ lacrosse program. Many of them also played for the school’s tradition-rich field hockey team that didn’t win a state title during their careers.
"I play three sports, and we’ve never been able to win one in any of them," said Decker, who scored a goal. "So it feels great to do it now."
The Bearcats (8-1-1), on the other hand, have eight freshmen on their roster; all of them play, and five of them start. They were eighth-graders on a KCD team that lost to Manual 22-14 in the 2006 final.
"It’s hard consolation to know that we’ll be back next year," KCD coach Patrick McAnulty said. "We graduate three players, we’re young - but I’m tired of saying that."
KCD’s heralded freshman class produced two goals and an assist on Thursday. But a Collegiate freshman, Taylor Hodge, made the biggest impact. She scored three goals in the first half, one off an assist from eighth-grader Danielle Bosscher, to boost the Amazons to a 4-2 halftime lead.
"She performs well under pressure," Harrison said.
Vieth, who was named the Most Valuable Player, then scored three goals in the second half to boost the Amazons to the win.
"We just kept shooting at them," Hodge said. "When we click, we really can’t be stopped. It’s incredible what we can do when we’re on."
But Collegiate’s defense was even better, limiting KCD’s high-powered offense to 14 shots on goal largely by cutting off passing lanes. The Bearcats had averaged 15 goals in nine previous KLA games and had scored fewer than 12 just once - in an 8-8 tie with Manual on May 1.
"It was really, really frustrating," KCD junior Hayley Grant said. "They were intercepting everything we threw up. Their defense played really well."
"We have a tight group back there," said Collegiate assistant coach Jeff Clark, who recently moved senior Allison Grant, junior Caroline Goldstein and freshman Hannah Bruenderman to deep defense. "In my opinion, we can hold back almost anybody."
KCD rallied in the second half. After Vieth’s first goal staked Collegiate to a 5-2 lead barely two minutes into the half, the Bearcats ran off four straight goals - from freshman Michelle Worthington, junior Gray Robinson, eighth-grader Casey Bariteau, and freshman Mimi Magruder - over the next 11 minutes to surge ahead 6-5.
"I was really happy," McAnulty said. "We seized the momentum, and I thought we made some good things happen."
But that was KCD’s only lead of the game.
Vieth tied it with 5:39 remaining, and senior Lauren Givhan regained the lead for the Amazons with 2:42 to go. Vieth then shut the door when she scored again with 1:31 left.
"I knew the team wanted it bad enough," said Collegiate junior goalie Liz Ratliff, who made eight saves. "We have a lot of seniors, and they weren’t going to let us lose."
Grant had a goal and two assists for KCD. Worthington had a goal and an assist, and junior Christena Burell scored once. Sophomore goalie Kelly Beam, who had not played lacrosse before this season, made 15 saves.
"Kelly did an amazing job for a first-year goalie," McAnulty said.
(Photos by Ruth Mattingly.)