By Jon Buzby
MaxPreps.com
IAAM A Conference Lacrosse Championship
John Carroll 11, McDonogh 6
After a pair of narrow victories over St. Paul’s and Notre Dame Prep last week, the nation’s top-ranked girls lacrosse team looked the part Saturday.
John Carroll (18-0), No. 1 in the MaxPreps National Girls Lacrosse Rankings, capped an unbeaten season and notched its second-straight IAAM A Conference title with an 11-6 win over McDonogh.
"The pressure definitely got to us (last week)," Patriot attacker Casey Ancarrow told the Baltimore Sun. "Then today, there was a different feeling. We were more confident, more composed. We believed that we could win this game."
The Patriots are 32-3 dating back to 2007 and will enter the spring 2009 campaign riding a 22-game win streak.
Ancarrow had a goal and four assists while Brittan Dashiell and Grace Gaeng added three goals apiece to lead head coach Krystin Porcella’s back-to-back champs.
John Carroll displayed its depth of talent as senior Allyson Carey, who provided the winning goal in overtime against Severna Park in last year’s IAAM A final, was held scoreless for the first time all season.
Carey, a member of the United States’ Under-19 team, racked up 52 goals and 37 assists this season.
Ancarrow helped put the game out of reach with a pair of assists to Gaeng and one to junior Katie Kiriazoglou on consecutive possessions to give Carroll a 9-5 lead with 14:40 remaining.
McDonogh finished its season at 18-3.
IAAM B Conference Lacrosse Championship
Garrison Forest 13, Park School 10
Garrison Forest’s unbeaten season (15-0) remained intact with a 13-10 victory over the Park School in the B conference championship on Saturday afternoon at St. Paul's.
The Grizzlie’s Alex Goldstein broke-up a 10-10 tie by scoring her fourth goal of the game with just over four minutes to play and Ana Heinrich (four goals, assist) and Liza Blue (three goals, two assists) went on to score one more each to secure the first IAAM lacrosse championship for the school.
Lucie Weinberg scored four times for the Bruins.
IAAM C Conference Lacrosse Championship
St. Vincent Pallotti 12, Baltimore Lutheran 10
St. Vincent Pallotti ended Baltimore Lutheran’s two-year reign as conference champs with a narrow 12-10 victory in the IAAM C conference final on Saturday morning at the St. Paul’s School.
Carly Van Zanten and Michelle Moore each scored three goals and Rachel Wilkinson added two to power the Panthers to their first-ever conference championship.
Jordan Certeza and Alora Gullivan each had four goals for the Saints, who despite beating Pallotti twice during the regular season, were denied their third-consecutive championship.
Pallotti sprinted out to a 7-4 halftime lead and led by as many as five goals before the Saints rallied to within 12-10 with 1:11 to go. Freshman goalie Caroline Harvey came up with a huge save with 53 seconds left to secure the championship for Pallotti, which two years ago won only two games the entire season.
MIAA A Conference Playoffs Set
The No. 1 nationally-ranked Gilman boys (17-0) finished their perfect regular season with a 13-4 win over St. Paul’s to secure the top seed in this week’s MIAA A playoffs.
The top six teams in the conference advance to the playoffs. The final standings are:
1. Gilman (10-0 league, 17-0 overall)
2. Loyola (8-2, 11-4)
3. Calvert Hall (8-2, 15-2)
4. McDonogh (6-4, 14-5)
5. St. Mary's (5-5, 14-5)
6. Archbishop Spalding (5-5, 14-5)
7. St. Paul's (4-6, 10-10)
8. Boys' Latin (4-6, 13-7)
9. Severn (3-7, 11-10)
10. Mount St. Joseph (2-8, 8-10)
11. Friends (0-10, 4-11)
Playoff action in this hotbed of lacrosse begins on Tuesday, with quarterfinal games featuring Archbishop Spalding at Calvert Hall and McDonogh hosting St. Mary’s.
The semifinals will be played as part of a MIAA/STX doubleheader on Friday at Towson University's Johnny Unitas Stadium.
Loyola will play the winner of the Calvert Hall/Archbishop Spalding quarterfinal at 5 p.m. and Gilman faces off against the St. Mary’s/McDonogh winner at 7:15 p.m.
The MIAA/STX A Conference Championship Game will be played at Johnny Unitas Stadium on Tuesday, May 20 at 7:30 p.m. The championships in the B and C conferences will be played prior to the A championship, also at Unitas Stadium as part of a compelling tripleheader.
Jon Buzby covers Maryland for MaxPreps.com
