Concordia Prep completes a perfect lacrosse season

By Nelson Coffin
nelson@iaamsports.com

Concordia Prep’s roll through the C Conference lacrosse season was slowed to a crawl in the first half of the championship game on Saturday at USA Lacrosse’s Tierney Field.

Catholic High put the brakes on the undefeated Saints early in the contest by bolting to a 6-2 lead with 8:35 left in the opening half on sophomore midfielder Maura Barnes’ third goal of the opening period.

However, from that point forward Concordia went back to being a juggernaut, outscoring the Cubs, 15-4, to secure a 17-10 victory to complete a perfect 13-0 season while garnering the program’s fourth overall title and first since 2011 (when the school was named Baltimore Lutheran).

Sloan Hubbard paced the Saints with eight goals and two assists, using speed and a wicked left-handed shot to pierce the Cubs’ defense repeatedly after the slow start.

The freshman attacker scored three straight times in just over a minute to cleave into the deficit before junior Ceanna McGirt knotted the score at 6-6 on a twirling run through the Catholic backline.

“I always lose confidence when I miss shots,” Hubbard said. “But my mentality today was to keep shooting.”

The teams traded two goals each after that, with Hubbard’s fifth goal of the battle deadlocking the score at halftime, 8-8.

Concordia sophomore attacker Molly Clapp broke the tie by scoring twice before Hubbard found the net again as the Saints spurted ahead, 11-8.

Although sophomore midfielder Rachel Roane was able to pump in her third goal of the game to cut Concordia’s lead to 11-9 with 18:24 left in the second half, Catholic (8-3) could never draw even.

At one point, the Cubs had a three-man advantage and still couldn’t ripple the net while the Saints produced a shorthanded goal after a long run by sophomore Molly attacker Molly Holler.

Barnes’ fourth strike of the game came with just under eight minutes remaining in regulation and was answered by sophomore attacker Molly Clapp’s fourth tally, two more Hubbard scores and McGirt’s second goal.

All in all, the Saints won going away after a gritty effort by Catholic that could not hold off the irrepressible Hubbard.

When it was suggested to Concordia coach Carlyn Stefanelli that she unleashed the rookie, she demurred.

“She unleashed herself,” the coach said. “She’s been pushing through all season, but today she just showed up the entire time and, I think, carried this team, brought the energy, called for the ball every time and put the ball in the net. I told her, ‘You have to go get the ball and go left every time.’ She wants the ball but wants to help her teammates, too.”

Stefanelli said that she had faith that her team would recover from Catholic’s early blitz.

“I knew we had it in us,” she added. “Catholic really came out kind of strong and they brought the heat, but I knew we were just a little bit off and weren't playing our game. We were seeing things from our team that I haven’t seen them do all season. Once we were able to clean it up and make some adjustments, we were able to bring it home.”

Catholic coach Megan Morales said that she was proud of her team’s effort, especially in the early going.

“It was an amazing start, good energy,” she said. “In the second half we ran out and we were getting tired. Concordia has depth and we do not, so that really hurt us.”

Morales said that senior goalie Madison Selby (game-high 8 saves) is the “brick wall” of the defense.

“She had phenomenal saves this game and this season,” she said. “I’m so proud of her for that.”