Decatur Girls Win Regional Title

BERLIN- Stephen Decatur’s girl’s varsity lacrosse team won
its second straight state Class 3A-2A East Region championship in Wednesday,
beating visiting Kent Island, 12-6, in a physical contest to advance to the
state’s Final Four for the second year in a row.

The Seahawks, which are still unbeaten on the season at
15-0, wore down Kent Island in a tough game that resulted in yellow cards for
both teams. The two teams are very familiar with each other, having now played
three times this season including last week’s Bayside Conference championship,
won by Decatur, 14-8. Ironically, the margin of victory has been the same for
the Seahawks in the three contests with Kent Island this year including a 10-4
win back on April 17.

Decatur now moves on to the Class 3A-2A Final Four for the
second year in a row, although they didn’t find out who they would play in the next
round until last night. The 3A-2A North Region final between North Harford and
Towson scheduled for Wednesday night was rained out and re-scheduled for last
night.

Kent Island slowed the game down and played a physical
style of defense against Decatur during Wednesday’s region final in an attempt
to slow down the Seahawk scoring juggernaut and the plan worked for the most
part for the first half, which ended with Decatur leading just by a score of
5-3.

However, the Seahawks eventually wore down Kent Island in
the second half, cruising to the 12-6 win and a return trip to the Final Four.
Last year, Decatur made its first trip to the Final Four and upset
Walkersville, 10-9, in the semifinals before falling to national powerhouse
Mount Hebron in the state championship.

Mount Hebron still lurks on the other side of the 3A-2A
bracket, but it is uncertain if they will return to the Final Four. Mount
Hebron’s regional championship game with Glenelg was rained out on Wednesday,
as was the other regional final between Walkersville and Urbana.

Decatur’s
Amy Buckley led all scorers with four goals, while Sara Braniecki scored three
goals. Katie Priestly and Kara Gover scored two goals each in the regional
championship.