Lacrosse: Loch Raven's girls move on to MPSSAA title game with 13-10 win over Patterson Mill

Loch Raven High School came into Saturday's  2A/1A MPSSAA state lacrosse semifinals with both its boys and girls teams with a chance to reach the championship game if they could defeat Patterson Mill. The girls team succeeded in their journey with a solid team effort in a 13-10 victory, while the boys came up short in a 10-4 decision.

The girl Raiders used a very balanced offensive attack, jumping out to an early five-goal lead, and they never looked back.

Meredith Moore led the way for Loch Raven (11-5) with three goals and two assists, while Maggie Wagner added two goals and two assists. Christie Moyer pitched in with three goals and Taylor Sartor scored twice. Raiders goalie Leanne Bittner was sharp in the all-important first half, and finished with seven saves.

Raiders coach Tracy Mabe was ecstatic with her team's effort. "It is awesome that we are going back to the title game. We graduated a few from last year's team and we had to rebuild with a lot of young players," she said. "A lot of people didn't think we would be back, but here we are!"

Patterson Mill (8-10) was led by Taylor Burris, who scored the first eight goals for the Huskies.

Loch Raven led 2-1 at the 14-minute mark before going on a four-goal run in a span of 3:42.

Sartor got her first unassisted after a foul was called, which was followed by a Wagner goal as Moore found her cutting down the middle for an easy score. House and Moore scored in a :35 span, and the Raiders led 6-1 with 9:50 left to play in the first half.

Burris countered with two straight for Patterson Mill to cut the Raider lead to 6-3, but Loch Raven quickly answered.

The Raiders got a second straight from Moore on a nice move from behind the goal, before Moyer scored twice in a row on goals that were nicely assisted by Moore and Wagner.

Burris got one more with :09.5 left in the first half, and at the break Loch Raven led 9-4.

The Raiders came out in the second half and put the game away as they scored the first two goals, one each from Wagner and Sartor, to lead 11-4. While Burris did all she could to keep her team in the game, the Huskies never got closer than the three-goal final difference.

Moyer and Moore combined for almost half the Raiders' scoring, and Mabe couldn't have been prouder.

"Christie and Meredith are my leading scorers and they work very well together," said Mabe. "We don't have one star player like other teams—everything we do is a team effort."

Moore had high praise for her coaches.

"As a team we just had to play smart and listen to what our coaches were saying, and they told us to put the ball in the back of the net," said Moore

Loch Raven now advances to a rematch of last year's title game—one in which they lost 15-8 against Winter's Mill—next Tuesday or Wednesday at UMBC.

The Raider boys were not as fortunate, as their high scoring attack was completely shut down in the second half in falling to Patterson Mill 10-4.

Loch Raven (10-6) got three goals in the first half by Kevin Friant to keep the game close. Patterson Mill (12-6) led 5-4 at the half as each team tried to feel each other out in the first 24 minutes.

The second half was a different story.

Patterson Mill got three goals from Chase Wedekind in the half and held the Raiders scoreless for all 24 minutes.

The attack unit of Patterson Mill combined for eight goals and seven assists. Husky coach Jason Bellamy spoke of their toughness.

"Our offense tonight found a way to get it done in the second half," said Bellamy. "They scrapped and battled all night."

What was equally impressive was the job the Husky defense did on the high scoring Raider attack.

While Friant did score three goals, fellow attackmen Wes Dingman and JB Cadorette were shut out on the eveing.

Husky defenseman Tony Roney, Brett Soos and Zach Stryjewski deserved all the credit for the defensive stand, and Bellamy agreed.

"Unfortunately we lost one of our starting defenseman early on, but the guys on the bench stepped up and played  just a tremendous game."

Loch Raven coach John Hanley had much praise for his counterparts, and was also proud of his young team.

"They did a really nice job defensively on us," said Hanley. "We had a tough time adjusting and trying to move the ball around. They really did a good job on our basic transition of trying to get the ball from defense to offense."

"I'm very proud of my team," added Hanley. "We were very young, and from our first game to now we grew. Hopefully we'll continue to grow next year."

Patterson Mill will advance to the 2A/1A MPSSAA final against Glenelg next week.

GIRLS LACROSSE

Loch Raven         9  4  - 13

Patterson Mill    4  6  - 10

Goals: LR- Moore 3, Moyer 3, Wagner 2, Sartor 2, Knapp, Justis, Daue. PM - Burris 8, Poust, Keesling.

Assists: LR-Moore 2, Wagner 2, Daue, Genovese

Shots: LR-21,  PM-20

Saves: LR- Bittner 7  PM- Dove 1, Dent 6

Ground Balls: LR- 40,  PM- 24

Draws Won: LR- 15, PM- 10

BOYS LACROSSE

Loch Raven       1  3  0  0  -  4

Patterson Mill  1  4  1  4  -  10

Goals: LR- Friant 3, Powell.  PM- Wedekind 4, Wilson 3, Egan, Alson, Bowers

Assists: LR- Kight, Surock.  PM- Egan 5, Wilson, Wedekind

Shots: LR- 22   PM- 34

Saves: LR- Glorioso 16  PM- Kuhn 9

Ground Balls: LR - 44  PM - 43

Face-offs Won: LR- 7  PM - 11