Wolverines slip by Blazers

MARCH 21, BLAZER STADIUM—

The Watkins Mill Wolverines outplayed the Blazers tonight in their first game of the season, overcoming a 4-7 deficit at halftime to rally and beat the Blair girls' lacrosse team 10-8.

The Blazers started out strong with an explosive offense led by senior captains Maddie Driskill and Diana Frey, with Driskill scoring the first goal in the second minute of play to take an early lead. However, Watkins Mill scored shortly after to tie it up, making it clear that the game would be no cake-walk for the Blazers.

The first half continued with more strong play from the Blazer offense, with six more goals before the half, including three from Frey and two more from Driskill. The Blazers utilized their strong passing and speed to break through the Watkins Mill defense and get close to the net before taking their shots. The Wolverines took advantage of their free positions, scoring twice on plays immediately following fouls by Blair players.

In the second half, the Blazers began to slow down and the Wolverines took advantage, scoring three unanswered goals to tie the game 7-7 in the first 10 minutes. Blair regained the lead when junior defender Karla Berberich came up the field and snuck the ball past the Watkins Mill goalkeeper. Driskill was thrown out of the game minutes later when she received her second yellow card for taking a dangerous shot.

Watkins Mill scored once more to tie the score again before Frey injured her knee, taking her out of the rest of the game. Without their two main scorers, the Blazers could not keep it together and the Wolverines scored twice to raise the score to 10-8 and lock the game up.

The Blazers were hurt by inconsistency, as their offense slipped during the second half. They also gave up crucial turnovers and tired themselves out during transitions as they had trouble completing long passes. However, their short passing was sharp, and they had excellent speed when attacking the goal.

Coach Michael Horne was disappointed with the loss, but thought the team performed well overall. "We caught some bad breaks, and Watkins Mill capitalized on our lapses," he said. He plans to work on the team's consistency in preparation for the rest of the season, saying that, "We have to do the little things right and play a full 50 minutes."

The team's next game is this Friday, March 24 against Richard Montgomery at 5:30 p.m. at Julius West Middle School.