Girls Lacrosse

As freshmen a year ago, Poly's Joseph Pate and Towson's Hayden White each fell short of their goals of winning tennis titles in their respective jurisdictions at No. 1 singles. Pate was unbeaten in 15 matches last season before finishing second in the Baltimore City championships behind Marcus Addison of City. White, meanwhile, had lost once heading into last year's Baltimore County tournament. But after reaching the semifinals, academic priorities took precedence. "I had two math tests the next day," White said.

With almost two minutes left and the game tied in last night's overtime girls lacrosse game at North Harford, Hawks senior Corey Donohoe got a yellow card and had to sit for three minutes. Fortunately for Donohoe, there was time to return. The game went into double overtime and Donohoe scored the game-winner on a free-position goal with four seconds left to lead the No. 9 Hawks to an 11-10 victory over Harford County rival Fallston. Donohoe also scored the tying goal at the buzzer in regulation, making it 9-9, but a dangerous check brought her the yellow card and the three-minute break.

Pikesville had the right strategy to challenge No. 5 Century in last night's state Class 2A-1A girls lacrosse championship at UMBC Stadium, but not enough firepower to prevent the Knights from winning their second straight title. Jenny Steadman scored seven goals and Katie Schwarzmann added four as the Knights dominated the second half en route to a 15-5 victory and their third Class 2A-1A crown in four years Last year, the Panthers fell to the Knights, 16-6, in the championship and, last night, they planned to stifle Century's quick-strike attack.

For a moment in last night's game against Moorestown, N.J., Mount Hebron's girls lacrosse team flashed back to its loss to West Genesee, N.Y., three weeks ago - but only for a moment. This time when the host Vikings fell behind by three goals in the first three minutes, they responded quickly. Later, they used a 5-1 run to spark a third straight victory over seven-time defending New Jersey state champ Moorestown, 11-7, before about 1,200 fans. The No. 1 Vikings (13-1) were much more aggressive last night and much more sure of themselves all over the field.

Western's softball team stands on the brink of winning its second straight Baltimore championship.The Doves (11-4 overall) improved to 9-0 in the city with a 31-7 romp over City Friday. They play host to City again this afternoon in the first of three remaining city-league games.Four Doves are batting over .400. Stephanie Tolbert, a junior left fielder, is hitting .564 with 15 RBIs, three home runs and 24 runs scored. Freshman catcher Heather Delair leads the team with 24 RBIs and is hitting .545 with five doubles.

No. 1-ranked Mount Hebron earned its 12th straight region title yesterday and in the process got something it hadn't experienced for some time -- a challenge."

The girls lacrosse picture in Carroll County offers about as many questions as there are teams:Was North Carroll's championship a one-shot production?Was Liberty's failure to extend its string of county titles simply a case of taking a year off to reload?Will Westminster continue to build on a program that has improved dramatically recently.South Carroll, on the other hand, presents a situation the other schools have not had to worry about for some time: a new coach.Bridget Harris, a graduate of North Carroll and Salisbury State, got the job shortly before Christmas, so she was able to observe some of her players in a winter league.

Carver A & T Wildcats1996 record: 2-8Coach: Tom CareyTop players: Heather Ng, Jr., M; Rachel Oram, Jr., A; Mary Wachter, Jr., M, Katie Pugh, Fr., M; Sara Loran, Fr., A; Chrissy Fredrick, Sr., G.Outlook: The Wildcats have plenty scoring potential but new coach Carey and assistant Crissy Romano need some young players to step up. Ng, one of Division II's top players, and Oram should do most of the scoring, but the defense is young. How quickly nine freshmen develop is key.Catonsville Comets1996 record: 14-4Coach: Kim McNemarTop players: Marci Brewer, Jr., G; Renee Tirocchi, Sr., M; Annie Yeager, Sr., D; Lauren Nopulos, Sr., M; Eden Rellihan, Sr., M.Outlook: The defending state Class 1A-2A champs have some big holes to fill, especially on defense, and McNemar may have to move some experienced midfielders, such as Nopulos, back.

Erica Schneider had three goals and an assist to help No. 13-ranked North Harford (5-0) defeat host C. Milton Wright (2-1) last night in girls lacrosse. Susan Eyler added two goals and two assists for the Hawks.Pub Date: 4/04/97

Amy BrewAnnapolisgirls lacrosseBrew, a senior wing, combined for 10 goals and three assists as No. 1 Annapolis defeated South River (17-5) and Southern-AA (15-4).

Throughout their careers with Century's girls lacrosse team, Claire Brady and Katie Schwarzmann have shown a nearly instinctive connection on offense. Brady usually dished out assists and Schwarzmann finished them off, so it was appropriate Wednesday that each senior set a state title-game record as the No. 10 Knights rolled past Patterson Mill, 25-9, to win the Class 2A-1A title at UMBC Stadium. Schwarzmann, who is headed to Maryland, scored nine goals, and Brady, a Hofstra commitment, had seven assists - both records for all classifications, as was the 25 total goals scored by the Knights.

Fallston's girls lacrosse players believed they could beat No. 3 Mount Hebron in Tuesday's Class 3A-2A state final, but the Cougars never imagined the game would turn out the way it did. The No. 14 Cougars took a four-goal lead in less than five minutes and were ahead by 10 in less than 17 minutes en route to a 16-1 victory for their first state crown at UMBC Stadium. "We never thought ... it was going to be this much of a difference," said Fallston's Roxy Raab, who had four goals and two assists.

In such a low-scoring game as Tuesday night's state Class 4A-3A girls lacrosse final, it would be easy to pick out a handful of critical moments. For No. 5 Severna Park, none was more important than a short second-half stretch in which goalie Sarah Lloyd made two terrific saves to preserve a tie and put the Falcons in position to win their third straight title, 7-5, over No. 15 Westminster at UMBC Stadium. After the Owls' Ashleigh Rohrback tied the score at five minutes into the second half, Lloyd, a converted midfielder who finished with 10 saves, made two big ones and the Owls hit the post once.

McDonogh's girls lacrosse team won most of its regular-season games pretty handily, but once the playoffs arrived, the scores got closer. That was just fine with Ali Brennan, as long as her Eagles kept winning - and they did. Brennan's five goals, and McDonogh's late-game defensive stand, put the finishing touches on a wire-to-wire run as No. 1 with a 13-10 win over No. 2 Notre Dame Prep on Sunday at Gerstell Academy in Finksburg. It's the Eagles' first Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference crown "It is really hard [to stay No. 1 all season]

The aura of dominance surrounding the Mount Hebron girls lacrosse program can be intimidating, especially in the playoffs. While sixth-ranked Annapolis never backed down from the fourth-ranked Vikings in Saturday's Class 3A-2A state semifinal, Mount Hebron had too much firepower and came away with a 20-11 victory. Ashley Bruns led Mount Hebron with eight goals, Julianne Giles added six and Jessica Giles finished with five. The Vikings, who have won a record 15 girls lacrosse state championships, play Fallston (15-3)

Century senior Katie Schwarzmann has scored 291 goals in her career, but none bigger than Wednesday night's last-second regional championship winner. With two seconds left in a tie game with Liberty, Schwarzmann stood on the 8-meter arc facing goalie Schylar Healy, who had just made two point-blank saves. The All-Metro midfielder shot the free-position goal high into the net as time expired for a 15-14 victory and the Class 2A-1A West regional girls lacrosse title. "I've never been that excited in my life, ever," Schwarzmann said of her sixth goal.

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.

Severna Park's girls lacrosse team reminded No. 3 Broadneck on Monday night of something the Bruins probably already knew - never count the Falcons out. Even though the Falcons had faded to No. 13 in The Baltimore Sun's poll after losing three regular-season games, including one to Broadneck, they were hardly finished. Smart shooting, stingy defense and a terrific game from rookie goalie Sarah Lloyd fueled a 17-9 regional semifinal victory for two-time defending state Class 4A-3A champ Severna Park, which advances to Wednesday night's East regional final against the winner of the other semifinal between No. 10 South River and Leonardtown.

2 One-goal victories for the Towson boys and girls lacrosse teams over top rival Dulaney on Saturday - 9-8 for the boys, 14-13 for the girls 25 Saves for Catonsville girls lacrosse goalie Tina Nicklas in Friday's 15-10 win over Franklin 69 Years of the McCormick Unsung Heroes Awards; one local boy and one local girl will be honored Monday with scholarships

In its first eight regular-season games, the No. 11 South River girls lacrosse team has had only one close one, so the Seahawks relished the chance to play some tough nontraditional rivals at the annual Anne Arundel Community College tournament. On Saturday, making up the game that had been rained out the Saturday before, they nipped No. 12 Fallston, 12-11, as Brooke Griffin scored five goals and dominated the draws while goalie Kim Kolarik made 14 saves. In Monday's tournament game, the Seahawks (9-1)