AV Girls LAX - Varsity

The Carondelet girls lacrosse program has been very successful in recent years but finished 2017 with a lot of heart break. Last year Amador took the Cougars to task in the second game of the season and barely walked away with a 6-5 victory. Carondelet would be hoping to create an upset against the favored Dons.

The opening draw saw a patented Bella Mayo win, then race for a goal. After some quick maneuvering she claimed the first goal of the game. The next sequence saw the Dons defensively swarm and force a turnover. This allowed Mady Sweeney to charge the 8 meter and draw a shooting space violation. Sweeney was then easily able to convert, to put the Dons up 2-0. Carondelet showed some incredible resilience and slowly returned the game to a draw with 10:37 left in the half. Senior Anna Ford battled through the center of the field and successfully dropped in a goal. Yet again, Carondelet responded to even the match. Even more impressive for Carondelet was the number of saves the goalie was racking up. Sophia Shiblaq and Mady Sweeney gave Amador some breathing room by tallying goals from the penalty line. Kalena Johnson closed the first half scoring after rolling the crease from X. Carondelet claimed the next draw and attempted to narrow the Amador lead. But a fierce defensive stand saw the Don offense back on the charge. Unfortunately the Dons were not able to convert. 6-3 Dons at the half.

Bella Mayo opened the half by probing the defense multiple times before claiming her second goal. Grace French had a fantastic defensive takeaway and transition all the way into attack. Her shot on goal, after a crease roll, was deflected. Carondelet bumbled the transition pass and Lily Manos was able to feed her ground ball to Kylie Racer at the top of the 8. Racer charged inward and scored! Mady Sweeney put up the next assist as she fed a cutting Racer to put the Dons up 9-3. Just as Amador was getting comfortable the Cougar goalie put on a clinic of deflections, saves, and takeaways. The Carondelet goalie read the field well and had 3 knock downs and takeaways behind the goal. This enabled the Cougars to respond with two well earned goals. Carondelet threatened again to narrow the lead. Instead of being on the penalty line for a defensive collision, Amador claimed a turnover, because Carondelet was offsides. Marley Diligent was awarded the ball and shot out of the scrum like a canon down the field. Marly Diligent had a quick transfer to Kalena Johnson who juked her defender and found the back of the net. Amador was patient in their final attempts at another goal. A frustrated Carondelet team drew a yellow card penalty. Despite being down, a goalie save put the Cougars on the attack. Amador wasn’t able to organize a double team fast enough and the Cougars were able to capitalize despite being short handed. The last few minutes saw a battle for possession with Amador keeping the rock in hand for the victory.