Barrington Completes Undefeated Season, Wins Girls Lax Title
Saturday, June 01, 2013
Barrington High School fought off a second half comeback by La Salle Academy, beating the Rams 13-10 to capture the Division I girls lacrosse championship.
La Salle got on the board first, scoring just 50 seconds into the game, when sophomore Molly Kelly found the back of the net, giving the Rams a 1-0 lead.
The two teams traded goals back-and-forth for the majority of the first half. The game was all knotted up at 5-5 with under two minutes remaining in the first half, when the Eagles exploded for three goals to end the half on two goals from Player of the Game Mary Coogan and one from senior captain Kelly Dolan, giving Barrington an 8-5 advantage at the half.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTHowever, La Salle wasn't ready to go down without a fight. The Rams scored the first four goals of the second half, taking a 9-8 lead nearly 12 minutes into the second half, on goals from Rachel Padilla, Meaghan Rickard, Catherine Collins, and Mallory Johnson.
Instead of getting down, Barrington came back and responded, rattling off five goals of their own to answer La Salle's run. During that stretch, Dolan, Madeline Soutter, Cameron MacDonald, Beatrice Bramhall, and Annie Sullivan scored for the Eagles, giving Barrington a 13-9 lead.
Although it wasn't the second half start that Barrington head coach Kathryn Tajima was looking for, she was confident in her team even when the Rams took the lead.
“We knew that we had to play our game,” Tajima said. “We have a system that works for us. It was hot, so it was a tough day to keep communicating out there, but we were able to come back in the second half and play our game.”
Padilla scored late for La Salle, cutting their deficit to three goals at 13-10, but Barrington was too good down the stretch, protecting the ball from the Rams in the final minutes of the game.
Tajima was ecstatic for her whole team to achieve the goal of winning a championship, but for her seniors especially.
“We love our seniors,” Tajima said. “Kelly Dolan and Laina Caesar are amazing. They're great captains and good leaders for our team. We just wanted to prove to everyone that we deserved this win.”
This marks the first Division I girls lacrosse championship for Barrington in four years.
