Balanced Blazer scoring attack levels Cavaliers

In their season opener tonight the Blair girls' lacrosse team dominated a much weaker Kennedy High School squad, 16-2.

Senior attack Robin Zhao led the way scoring four goals and completing two assists as eight different Blazers contributed at least one goal to the rout.

Despite a sloppy start, the Blazers managed to shut out the Cavaliers and put up ten unanswered goals. Most of which came because of a clearly disorganized Kennedy defensive effort. Often Blazers found themselves alone feet from the cage with no defensive pressure. Accurate passing in front of the goal led to many quality scoring opportunities for the Blazers.

The story was pretty much the same in the second half, so fifth year head coach Mike Horne was able to test out his young talent. The score was not as lopsided in the second half (6-2), but every other aspect of the game was. The Blazers retained possession for most of the half and peppered the Cavalier goal with shots.

Blair's seasoned defense led by senior co-captains Brigid McCarthy and Kristina Cammen had little trouble dismantling the Kennedy attack. The Cavaliers did not have much depth across the field, but a lack of it showed most in its offense. The Blazers were able to double and sometimes triple team their penetrating opponent because of this.

For the most part, stalwart goalie Anna Benfield, a junior, was untested (3 saves, 50 mins.). When she did gain possession of the ball, she characteristically dished out accurate outlet passes and ignited the Blazer run-and-gun transition offense.

Freshmen Diana Frey and Kiran Belani, and junior Sarah Robinson each recorded the first goal of their careers. Frey's second half goal was a stunning unassisted effort that began at midfield and ultimately ended with a beautiful shot that snuck past the Cavalier goalie.

Seeing such a powerful offense was a relief to Horne who was concerned about his Blazers' scoring ability after losing his top two scorers in Karin Brown and Sara Hirschler to graduation. "We were very strong going to goal one on one and I was pleased with our transition game." he said, "We have a very balanced scoring offense this year."

The Blazers (1-0) will return to action on March 28 at Gaithersburg High School. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m.

Blair Goals: Robin Zhao (4), Mairead Hunter (3), Beth Gula (2), Ariel Wilchek (2), Lauren Finkel (2), Kiran Belani, Diana Frey, Sarah Robinson

Blair Assists: Robin Zhao (2), Ariel Wilchek (2), Mairead Hunter, Lauren Finkel

Blair Goalies: Anna Benfield (3 saves, 50 minutes)