BERLIN- Stephen Decatur’s girls’ varsity lacrosse team came up just short in their quest for a Bayside Conference championship on Tuesday, falling to familiar foe Queen Anne’s, 15-11, in the title game in Easton.
The Seahawks were nearly perfect on the season, their only loss coming to Queen Anne’s, 8-7, back on April 23. Decatur went 11-1 on the regular season and won the Bayside South title and an opportunity to avenge their only loss of the season with a rematch in the conference championship game on Tuesday.
Decatur battled back from a few deficits throughout the title game, but Queen Anne’s eventually pulled away for the outright championship. The two teams shared the Bayside Conference championship last year after the highly anticipated title game was washed out by inclement weather.
Queen Anne’s took a 4-2 lead about halfway through the first half on Tuesday and made it 5-2 with time running down in the period. The two teams swapped the next four goals to put the Lions ahead 7-4. Decatur got a goal from Blair Yesko to cut the lead to 7-5 with the half running down, and appeared to pull even closer on a goal by Lexie VanKirk to cut the lead to 7-6, but the goal was nullified by a stick violation and Queen Anne’s took a 7-5 lead into intermission.
Queen Anne’s opened the second half with four straight to extend the lead to 11-5 and seemingly take control of the game, but the Seahawks would not roll over. Decatur answered with four goals of its own, the last coming on a score by Erin Florek on an unsettled situation, to cut the lead to 12-10 with time running down.
However, Queen Anne’s once again responded with a three-goal run to put the game out of reach at 15-10. Decatur’s Elle Bargar added a late goal with 46 seconds left to cut the lead to 15-11, but the damage had been done and the Lions claimed the title.
The loss in the title game did little to tarnish the Seahawks’ higher aspirations for the season. Decatur earned the number-one seed in the state 3A-2A East Region Section I when the bracket were released this week and will face Kent Island at home this afternoon in the opening round. Parkside is the number-two seed in the section and Bennett is the three-seed. Decatur easily handled each of its potential opponents in the regular season, beating Kent Island, 13-4, in the season opener and taking two each from both Parkside and Bennett.