As two-time defending champions in Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference girls lacrosse, the John Carroll players know how to handle big-game pressure.
That made a lot of difference in Tuesday's 13-6 tournament quarterfinal victory over up-and-coming St. Paul's.
The No. 5 Patriots opened up a 9-4 lead when Katie Kiriazoglou capped a four-goal run with 11:14 left.
The five-goal margin held to 11-6 with 7:36 to go, and the host Patriots (13-4) stalled away most of the rest of the time.
John Carroll coach Krystin Porcella said tournament toughness was a big advantage especially because her team had barely slipped by the Gators, 13-12, in double overtime in March.
"Even though we graduated so many, there's still a lot of players who got quality minutes last year. Once we got up by a couple, St. Paul's did a great job to get the ball back a couple times and they even got some goals, but I think our composure, our experience and our leadership shined through for us," said Porcella, whose team will play at No. 2 Notre Dame Prep in Thursday's semifinal
No. 14 St. Paul's (12-7) led by a goal twice early and then stuck within two until just after the break, when Kiriazoglou scored twice and Brittany Dashiell once, running the Patriots' lead to 9-4.
Although the Gators shot well - 6-for-10 with two goals from Brooke Boyd - they didn't shoot enough. The Patriots took 26 shots.
The Patriots showed much better movement on offense, getting four goals from Kiriazoglou, three from Cori Gray and two each from Dashiell and Annie Thomas .
"They know how to win. They know how to get it done," St. Paul's coach Monica Yeakel said.
"They know when the game is on the line, you've got to step up and go hard, and that's what they did. You saw it on ground-ball pickups, on double teams, and they executed their stall beautifully."
