Blazers defeated in season opener

March 21, Blair -

The Blair Blazers girls' lacrosse team suffered a painful 16-4 loss at the hands of the Poolesville Falcons as the Blazers lost their season and home opener on Monday evening.

The Falcons capitalized on their speed advantage and quickness to get the ball onto offense and get open looks in front of the cage. The Blazers struggled in transition and keeping up with the speedy Falcons.

According to coach Mike Horne, the team was outpaced by the speedy Falcons. "We got ran over by a faster team," said Horne.

At the start of the game the Blazers were able to hang with Poolesville by getting offensive possessions. Junior midfielders Diana Frey and Maddie Driskill were effective in transition and ball movement. Senior co-captain Lauren Finkel netted two of her three goals in the first half to keep the Blazers competitive. Senior co-captain Erica Nowak and Driskill both assisted Finkel on her goals. After an impressive unassisted goal by junior Kiran Belani the Blazers went into halftime down 7-3.

The second half was downhill for the Blazers as they got outscored 9-1. The Blazers seemed to run out of steam as they continually got beat downfield and to goal by the Falcon players. The Blazers got few offensive possessions and were able to do very little with the ball. Finkel scored the only goal of the half, her third, at the start of the second half.

Defensively the Blazers were unable to withstand the onslaught by Poolesville. Senior goalkeeper Betsy Costillo played admirably in the cage making several key saves. However, she often had little chance of saving Poolesville shots that came from right in front of the cage. The Blazers also struggled with yellow cards as senior Vicky Dean was ejected in the second half for getting two cards. Seniors Christina Ji and Alexa Gabriel also got one each. The defense was able to make some turnovers but struggled with getting the ball to the other end of the field and staying in front of the Poolesville players.

Nowak felt like the team struggled to control the ball on offense. "On offense we played scattered and rushed," said Nowak.

The Blazers next travel to Watkins Mill on Wed., March 23 at 5:15 where the girls will look to notch their first win of the season.