Dominating the draws, AACS claims first C Conference lacrosse title since 2016
By Nelson Coffin
nelson@iaamsports.com
Senior Skylar Sensenbrenner and junior Ava Linnell took the C Conference championship game by storm at USA Lacrosse’s Tierney Field in Sparks on Saturday.
The talented Annapolis Area Christian School midfielders combined for a dozen goals and a whopping 22 draw controls as the top-seeded Eagles downed second-seeded Catholic High, 20-11, to earn the program’s first title since going back-to-back in 2015-16.
Sensenbrenner (15 draw controls) dominated in the circle by either winning the ball directly to herself off the draw or nudging it toward Linnell.
“It’s all about teamwork,” Sensenbrenner said. “I placed Ava exactly where I wanted her (because) I knew where I was going to place it. I knew my strong side and I knew what the other competitors were good at.”
“I think a lot of it was trust,” Linnell said. “I trust that Skylar, when she needed to put it somewhere, she could put it somewhere.”
Despite the final score being somewhat lopsided, the Cubs (9-3, 6-2 league) were very competitive until AACS snapped a 5-5 deadlock when freshman midfielder Kacie Sturdivant converted a Linnell feed to ignite a 8-1 run over the last 8:34 of the second quarter while building a 14-6 halftime advantage.
Senior midfielder Ellie Hansen, Sensenbrenner and senior attacker Addie Roush followed with goals before Linnell singed the net four times. Freshman attacker Rose Harris had the only Catholic rebuttal during the pivotal span.
Linnell admitted that the Eagles (9-2, 8-0) went into the first quarter “a little scared” with the memory of falling to St. Timothy’s in last year’s finale still relatively fresh.
Back-to-back goals by AACS junior attacker Olivia McGill helped to alleviate some of the stress.
“Because, we were like, ‘Oh my gosh, another championship,”’ Linnell added. “This is, like, crazy. It feels awesome, and there are so many people on the stands. But I think once we settled in, we remembered who we were and the adrenaline came rushing in.”
The only other time that there was cause for concern from the Eagles’ perspective was when the feisty Cubs opened the third period with single goals by Harris and senior midfielder Rachel Roane and two by senior midfielder Maura Barnes to slice the deficit in half.
“I was nervous,” Sensenbrenner said. “But I think that’s what drives me and that’s what gets us pumping.”
Linnell’s sixth and final goal against promising freshman goalie Jayden Tyler (7 saves) restored order for the Eagles, who continued to pull away on a pair of goals by Hansen and Sensenbrenner before Roush closed the Eagles’ broadside. Freshman attacker Macy McMillion notched Catholic’s lone goal of the final period.
Unfortunately for the Cubs, Gabrielle Caruso’s two yellow cards forced her to exit the game after the junior midfielder scored three goals in the first quarter with wicked lefty shots.
Nonetheless, it would have been quite a challenge to overcome a team as motivated as AACS was to make amends for last season’s championship game setback.
“From the first day of tryouts we were talking about May 10,” AACS coach Maggie Bickhart said. “For three months the girls have been working, and this shows that their effort paid off. Our girls dug in and they knew what it was going to take.”
Catholic coach Megan Morales’ team was intent on making the Eagles work for the title.
“It started in the locker room,” she said. “We said that we didn’t want it to be a blowout. I think that playing hard and working for every 50-50 ball really helped us in the third quarter — just fighting for everything and not giving up.”