Bryn Mawr Falls Behind Early, Comes on Strong in Tournament Lacrosse Win

After seeing the Bryn Mawr lacrosse team fall behind 6-2 with just under seven minutes to play in the first half on Tuesday, Mawrtian head coach Wendy Kridel called time-out and asked her team, "What are you waiting for?"

Less than four minutes later, and under the leadership of senior Morgan Rubin, the Mawrtians responded by grabbing a lead it would never relinquish in an IAAM tournament quarterfinal game played against the St. Paul’s School for Girls at Bryn Mawr.

“I told them to start playing together, stop being quiet,” Kridel said after the team posted an 18-10 win over the Gators.  “And they did.”

After the time-out, Rubin assisted on the team’s third goal, scored the fifth and set up the tie goal. Each was a result of Rubin collecting a loose ball after the draw.

“We didn’t want to end our season in the quarters,” Rubin said. “After that first draw that we won [immediately after the time-out], I think our whole energy just took off from there.”

Rubin grabbed a loose ball from that draw, charged up the field and fed teammate Sam McGee, who hit the upper right net from the left front to narrow the Gators' lead to 6-3 just 11 seconds after the time-out.

Erica Matz scored the first of her six goals a couple minutes later after taking a pass from McGee.

Fourteen seconds after that, Morgan scooped up another loose ball from the draw, raced up the left side of the field and planted the ball over the left shoulder of Gator goalie Carrera Lucas to narrow the margin to one.

The Mawrtians tied the score 11 seconds later when Rubin collected her third loose ball off the draw and hit Matz, who made a couple of cuts while racing to the right before hitting the net.

Matz, who was another key player in the comeback, gave the team the lead for good less than a minute later when she pounced on a rebound from a teammate’s shot and drove it home.  Bryn Mawr took a two-goal, 8-6 lead to the half when Caroline Turco unleashed a line drive from 18 yards with just 5 seconds to play.  It was the sixth straight goal—all in less than seven minutes—for the Mawrtians.

The Gators scored the first second-half goal to pull to 8-7, yet Bryn Mawr reeled off four straight to widen the gap to 12-7.  St. Paul’s then scored two more to close to within three but the Mawrtians pulled away from there, scoring six of the game’s last seven goals.

“We just played a little jittery in the beginning, and they came out super-strong,” Kridel said.

Rubin agreed.

“We came out a little flat,” she said.  “They came out hard and wanted to win it.  We had to step up and make big plays.”

Kridel noted the Gators are much improved over the team the Mawrtians defeated in late March.

“They are much more disciplined in their offense,” she said.  “We got some opportunities, and when we were able to control the draw, it changed the game.”

Matz finished the game with six goals and one assist, and Rubin with four goals and two assists.  Teammates McGee and Kassandra Bowling also had big games; McGee with three goals and three assists, and Bowling with four goals. Turco had the one goal, while Kaleigh Noon and Molly Danko each had one assist.

Mawrtian goalie Molly Wolf finished with 11 saves, including a brilliant point-blank stop with 10:45 left in the game.

Maddy Aldave paced the Gator scoring with three goals. Sarah Hefner and Samantha Fine each scored twice. Brooke Boyd had a goal and two assists; teammates Kelly Boyd and Shelby Wells each had a goal and an assist. Lucas had seven saves.

The Mawrtians will renew a neighborhood rivalry against Roland Park Country School on Thursday in the tournament semifinal at Bryn Mawr. The Reds were 13-12 winners over Maryvale in a quarterfinal game played at Roland Park on Tuesday.