GFS girls’ lacrosse holds on to win Friends League Championship over Shipley

Posted 5/21/18

The Germantown Friends girls' lacrosse team is seen with their championship medals after winning their first Friends League Championship since 2015. (Photo by Alec Kostival) by Alec Kostival The …

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GFS girls’ lacrosse holds on to win Friends League Championship over Shipley

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The Germantown Friends girls' lacrosse team is seen with their championship medals after winning their first Friends League Championship since 2015. (Photo by Alec Kostival)

by Alec Kostival

The Tigers of Germantown Friends powered though near 90-degree heat on Tuesday to win their first Friends League Championship since 2015. Both GFS and Shipley battled neck-and-neck through two grueling 25-minute halves.

The game started out strong for the GFS Tigers. Through the first 15 minutes, GFS controlled the ball on offense for the majority of play. The Tigers took multiple shots on goal before scoring eight minutes into the first half. Junior attacker Jane MacRae opened up the scoring for GFS.

Shipley responded quickly, as junior captain Elizabeth Talluto ran through the Tigers defense to tie the score 1-1. Shipley went right back at it scoring just before the midpoint of the half. This time it was junior midfielder Kate Scutt with the goal.

After some solid defense, GFS regained control of the ball. MacRae again found the back of Shipley’s net to tie up the score 2-2. A couple of Shipley turnovers led to eighth grader Clare Meyer scoring for her first goal of the day, putting GFS up 3-2 with seven minutes to play in the half.

The Tigers kept up on offense as sophomore Curran McLaughlin scored to move the lead to 4-2 with five minutes to play. Talluto responded for the Gators, scoring just 23 seconds later, cutting the lead to 4-3.

With four minutes left to play in the half, the Tigers put their foot on the gas, scoring three times to push their lead to 7-3 heading into halftime. All three goals came from eighth grader Clare Meyer, giving her four in the first half.

“I think that Clare stepped up, had a ton of goals, pretty crucial goals. As an eighth grader, I think that foretells exactly what’s going to happen in four years to come,” said Celia Meyer of her sister Clare.

The girls looked gassed from the heat heading into the second half.

Shipley opened up the scoring early in the second half. Talluto converted on a good feed from senior captain Ashleigh Gundy to make the score 7-4.

Talluto found the net once again just five minutes into the half, cutting GFS’ lead down to two. The score remained the same through the next 14 minutes as both teams jockeyed for control of the ball.

With five minutes left, Shipley’s Scutt was able to score on a free position shot. Now down by only one, the Gators looked poised to make a full comeback.

A costly turnover led to a free position shot for GFS senior captain Celia Meyer. Meyer was able to score pushing GFS’ lead back to two, 8-6. The goal ended the Tigers’ 21-minute scoring drought.

“I have to win this draw. I have to score this goal. I just gotta bring the momentum back,” Meyer had thought to herself.

The Gators tried all they could to get back in the game, but with two minutes left, senior captain Lindsey Golden scored to push the score to 9-6. The score would hold as Germantown Friends won the Friends School League Championship.

“I’m so proud of our seniors. Shipley came out in the second half marking out Celia, marking out her sister who’s an eighth grader and all the other kids knew they had to contribute,” said head coach Katie Bergstrom Mark. “I think that we played really smart. We tried to draw them out and we were able to do that and get a few quick goals in there to insure and keep that cushion for us. Our defense played incredible. It was a fun game to be part of.”

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