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Tigers shoot down Bombers in lacrosse
(by Tony Lange - May 23, 2012)
Tigers shoot down Bombers in lacrosse
By TONY LANGE
From impenetrable goalkeeping to stonewall defense to possessive offense, everything seemed to click for the Lady Tigers during their 17-4 playoff lacrosse win against Kenston last Thursday.
When Chagrin Falls plays its game, it can play with any team in the state, Tigers head coach KC White said.
"I think it was the first game where everything came together," she said. "We had a group that really looked to support each other with double teams. We had a goalie who was unbelievably on her game, and we had an attack that was patient and looking for the right opportunity to strike."
To start the game, the Lady Bombers were in attack mode but were quickly shut down as Chagrin Falls defenders took two charging calls to force turnovers on Kenston's first two possessions.
That's when Kate Mackin and Shannon Fung took over for the Lady Tigers on the attack end.
Mackin started the scoring on a free shot opportunity to go up, 1-0, then Fung scored back-to-back goals, then Mackin scored, then Fund scored again.
Just like that, Chagrin led, 5-0.
"We typically have been a second-half team in previous seasons," Fung said. "So it just helps to start with intensity, to get our confidence up in the first half, and it's something that we can do as a team that keeps us together really well."
Giving the Tigers repeated scoring opportunities, Mackin kept winning draw after draw.
"We're always working on keeping possession, because I guess that's the most important thing," Mackin said. "It was really great, because the people in the circle were doing really well getting the draws out of the air. So we were just really aggressive I think on the draws."
Keeping the offense rolling, sophomore Lily Manchester scored three goals, Fung added her fourth, and Kirsten Hendricks and Christina Vento scored one each before halftime.
Chagrin led the game, 11-0, at that point and outshot the Bombers, 18 to six.
"Coach told us to just keep up our intensity," Fung said. "We went into this game with Kenston being one of our biggest rivals in every single sport. She told us just to keep it up, because it's really important as a team and as individuals to make it as far as we can, because I think everyone knows we have a lot of talent this year. So we just wanted to go out there and have fun, because, either way it goes, the end of the season is coming."
In the second half, Kenston was able to string a few goals together, including three by Tess Ferguson and another by MacKenzie Barnwell.
The Bombers actually outshot Chagrin, 10 to nine, in the second half, but the Tigers' goaltender, Maddie Wilson, seemed to put up a wall all game long with 10 saves, including a six in a row down the stretch.
"Well, they got off some nice shots, I'll have to say that," Wilson said about Ferguson and Barnwell. "But I guess when I focus and keep my eye on the ball and just go with the flow, it just kind of goes my way. We just needed to make sure we play how we work at practice and stay positive and just try and do our best."
Fung, Mackin and Hendricks all scored two goals in the second half to lead the Tigers to victory.
"Before the game, we talked about that one of our strengths is that we have a lot of trust in each other as individuals, and, to be successful as possible, we need to not only trust our teammates but also be there to support them when they have the ball," White said. "So we talked a lot about that, how it needs to be a full-team effort and not a series of individual performances.
"We knew that Kenston was going to play us hard and play us with passion, especially since it's a playoff game, but we knew that, if we played our game, that we had a good chance to make it a positive outcome."
With the win, Chagrin improved to 8-8 and advanced to play Rocky River in the Division II North-Central Regional quarterfinals May 22. Rocky River beat Chagrin, 13-7, in the regular season on April 5.
Kenston ended its season at 11-7 with its first winning record since its six-game initiation season in 2004.
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