Maddie Erikson took a blow to the stomach as she tried to score a tie-breaking goal for Cate and left the field during the first half of Friday’s L.A. Lacrosse Foundation Division 2 girls championship game against defending champion Dos Pueblos.
Erikson returned to the field with a vengeance in the second half and took care of business. Using her speed, she broke down Dos Pueblos’ defense and scored three goals, leading Cate to 6-3 title victory before a nice crowd at San Marcos’ Warkentin Stadium on Friday evening.
“This was my last game and the other seniors’ last game, so we were just trying to have our best 25 minutes of our careers,” said Erikson of the second-half performance. “We just all rallied and decided to play as a team.”
The title capped a big turnaround for Cate (9-7), which at one point during the season was 1-5 and lost both meetings against Dos Pueblos during Channel League play.
“We lost some really valuable players last year that kind of held our team together,” Erikson explained. “It kind of took us to the end of this season to really come together. I’m glad it finally happened.”
“We’re young team, we have only three seniors,” Cate coach Renee Mack said. “To start off the season, we played three of the top four Division 1 teams. That’s really tough for us. Then we go on spring break that’s two weeks long, so we didn’t start our season till it was so late. Now, we feel like we’re in a good place.”
The Rams peaked at the right time. They defeated Birmingham Charter in the first round of the playoffs and then knocked off top-seeded Peninsula.
In the third meeting with the Chargers, Cate played tremendous defense in front of the goal and shut down DP’s leading goal-scoring Olivia Geyling by throwing two defenders at her practically every time she got the ball.
“They know to guard Olivia and Brooke Essig,” DP coach Sam Limkeman said. “We got our power bursts the last five minutes. If we had that the last 25 minutes, it might have been a different game.”
Said Mack of her team’s defensive play: “We kept talking about the smarter our team defense is, our goalie will stop all the shots she can read. So, if we can keep DP from turning our defense and we can keep them channeled, then we’ll give all the shots to Liza (goalie Liza Borghesani). It worked pretty well today.”
Erikson took a blow to the stomach after firing a shot on goal with 8:57 to go in the first half. She was down for a couple of minutes before getting up and leaving the field under her own power.
“I think I jumped in the air and got chucked by one girl. It was fine,” she said.
Erikson was back on the field at the start of the second half and provided a spark for the Rams.
“She played really well, she played her best game,” Mack said. “Our seniors just stepped up today in ways you want them to lead. It’s really fun.”
Mack also praised the contributions of Andreah Graf.
“It’s the off-ball smarts that change the game and how positive they are with everyone on the field is the game changer,” she said of Graf’s play. “That’s the piece that really clicked today.”
The Rams broke a 1-1 halftime tie at the 22:37 mark of the second half on a goal by Kenzie Davidson. The goal was set up by a Lily Zanze steal in front of the Cate goal and a breakout run.
Cate’s Lilly Riehl forced another turnover and Erikson made DP pay by scoring the first of her three goals. From the left side of the goal, she burst out front and beat the goalie with a low shot for a 3-1 lead at the 20:53 mark.
Erikson made 4-1 on a counterattack up the left side.
DP called time out, but the Rams kept the momentum when play resumed.
At 11:56, Erikson passed to Daphne McKeefry on the perimeter and then posted up. She got the return pass, turned on her defender and fired a shot past the goalie for a commanding 5-1 advantage.
“I told the girls going out that ‘the odds our stacked against you. No matter what, this game is going to be difficult,’” Limkeman said about beating a team for the third time. “I think the girls played really well. I think Cate played a better second half. Our defense did an amazing job shutting down but our attack couldn’t get the shots off that we needed. “
Marina Suh of DP was fouled in the penalty zone with about six minutes to go, but the Chargers couldn’t capitalize as Borghesani saved the shot. She had four saves in the game.
Brooks made a nice feed to Riehl for her second goal of the game to put Cate ahead 6-1 with 4:05 to play.
Brooke Essig, who had a hat trick, broke through the Cate defense to score a pair of goals in the last two minutes for the Chargers, who finished an outstanding season with a 16-3 record.
“We went 16-3, undefeated in league and won 2 of 3 from Cate,” Limkeman said. “I told the girls this is still a big season for us.”
— Noozhawk Sports Editor Barry Punzal can be reached at bpunzal@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.