The women’s lacrosse team played Brookewood High School on Friday, Mar. 14, in their second game of the season. The Hoppers lost the game 19–9.
The Hoppers played Brookewood in their season opener last season and lost, 11–9.
GDS was missing several key players due to injury, including senior and team captain Jessica Berger, sophomore Chloe Newkirk, who did the stats for the game, sophomore Annie Del Guercio, sophomore Vivienne Quintenz and freshman Annika Kimbrell. The team was also missing junior and starting goalkeeper Lulu Tirado and senior Lauren Berman.
In the first quarter of the game, Brookewood started with a strong offensive push and scored three goals in a row. Junior Sabine Hletko Wood, who played as goalkeeper for the first quarter, blocked an attempted shot from Brookewood. Brookewood scored another goal before GDS called a timeout. For the rest of the quarter, GDS was strong defensively. Sophomore Maimouna Barry blocked an attempted shot from Brookewood. After blocking the shot, Barry passed the ball to junior Caitlin Mohr, who passed it to sophomore Willa Wible, who scored GDS’ first point of the game. Despite GDS’ solid defense, Brookewood was still able to score four more points in the quarter. The score of the first quarter was 8–1, with Brookewood in the lead.
(Hletko Wood is a sports editor for the Bit. She did not read or edit this article prior to publication).
In the second quarter of the game, Brookewood and GDS took a lot of back and forth shots. Brookewood scored the first goal of the second quarter, and GDS responded with an attempted shot that was blocked by Brookewood’s goalkeeper. GDS snapped into action after the attempted shot with a quick goal from Wible, but Brookewood immediately responded with another goal. After the fourth draw of the second quarter, freshman Naomi Berger passed to Wible, who scored another goal, before Brookewood answered with a goal of their own. After a while without any shots or goals, GDS finally scored the last point of the second quarter. At halftime, Brookewood led GDS, 11–4.
In the third quarter, GDS had some strong early offensive action with two goals from sophomore Alexis Rayford and freshman Cia Carr. Brookewood quickly responded with five more points to extend their lead. GDS got a strong offensive rush and scored another point, but, at the end of the third quarter, Brookewood scored two more points. GDS answered with another point to end the quarter, which finished with Brookewood ahead, 18–7.
The majority of the fourth quarter was scoreless, as both teams played strong defense. GDS was the first to break the drought after Hletko Wood stole the ball from Brookewood and passed it to junior Tessa Antonipillai, who scored the first point of the fourth quarter. GDS scored another goal to cut down Brookewood’s lead, but it would not be enough. Brookewood scored its only goal of the quarter to close out the game and seal a 19–9 win.
“We had two quarters where we played really solid lacrosse, and it was nice and tight,” head coach and high school Spanish teacher Parker Benedict told the Bit.
“I think that our team made really good adjustments throughout the game, learning from what was working and what wasn’t,” Barry said.
“Something I’m really proud of in this team is the character of our kids,” Benedict said. “They didn’t let the first quarter make them feel defeated, and they really worked hard for the next three quarters to try and show the other team what we’re made of. Two girls stepped up to learn the goalie position and then played goalie, and when they were playing their field positions they played well.” Starting goalkeeper Tirado was not at the game, so both Wible and Hletko Wood had to take over her position.
The women’s lacrosse team will play Washington Latin Public Charter High School at home on Thursday, March 20, at 4 p.m.