BERLIN- Stephen Decatur’s girls’ varsity lacrosse team jumped out to a quick early lead, withstood a subtle momentum change early in the second half and then cruised to the state 3A-2A East region tournament championship for the third year in a row.
Before the Seahawks could get to the region championship game on Monday, they had to take care of business against Bayside North rival Kent Island on Monday and it proved to be a difficult task. Kent Island led 2-0 early and 4-2 in the first half before Decatur rallied to tie it at 5-5 heading into halftime. In the second half, the two teams went back and forth before the Seahawks pulled out the narrow 10-9 win.
The win advanced the Seahawks to the 3A-2A East Region championship game for the third year in row on Wednesday at home against Huntingtown. After Monday’s slow start, the Seahawks wasted no time getting on the scoreboard with a goal by Claire Porter just 40 seconds into the contest. Less than a minute later, Lexie VanKirk scored to extend the lead to 2-0. Just 30 seconds after that, VanKirk found a cutting Victoria Kerkovich with a nice assist and Kerkovich finished the play to push the lead to 3-0 before many in the big home crowd had settled in.
Huntingtown got on the board with a goal with 19:30 remaining in the first half. Decatur’s Christina Romano scored the Seahawks’ fourth goal with just over 19 minutes remaining and Kervovich scored less than a minute later to push the lead to 5-1. In the next sequence, Decatur got a free position goal from Porter, who assisted on the next goal by Romano. Logan Townsend finished the mini-run by the Seahawks with a goal with just over seven minutes remaining in the half to extend the lead to 8-1. Huntingtown got back on the board with a goal with six minutes remaining to cut the lead to 8-2, but Romano scored again for Decatur at the 1:36 mark and the Seahawks took a 9-2 lead into halftime.
Huntingtown scored with just a minute or so gone in the second half to cut the lead to 9-3. Porter answered for Decatur with a nice move on the crease to extend the lead to 10-3, but Huntingtown won the ensuing draw and went straight down the field for a fast-break goal to cut the lead to 10-4. The Hurricanes scored again at the 18-minute mark to cut the lead and what had once looked like a runaway for the Seahawks was suddenly a 10-5 game with a lot of time left.
Romano scored at the 13-minute mark to push the lead to 11-5 and Berkovich added another on a falling shot with just over 12 minutes remaining to extend the lead to 12-5. Huntingtown scored with 9:50 remaining to cut the lead to 12-6, but that was as close as the Hurricanes would get.
With the big advantage, Decatur slowed the pace and began to whittle away at the clock. VanKirk scored with six minutes remaining to extend the lead to 13-6. With the clock running down, the anticipation began to build for Decatur’s third straight regional championship. Romano scored with 1:35 remaining to increase the lead to 14-6, and VanKirk added another late goal with 1:09 remaining to extend the lead to 15-6. Huntingtown scored a free position goal with just 36 second left, but the horn sounded, touching off a wild celebration on the field for the Seahawks.
The win clinched the 3A-2A East Region title and sent the Seahawks back to the state’s Final Four for the third year in a row. Last year, Decatur reached the 3A-2A state championship game, but saw it title hopes and the dreams of a perfect season fall with a 10-7 loss to Century. In 2014, the Decatur girls won the region championship before falling in the state semifinals.