Oakton Girls Lacrosse Advances to Regional Semis

The No.1 seeded Cougar girls have been on a mission all season to claim the Northern Regional title for the first time since 2008. But they first had to face the speed-driven No.3 seeded Stone Bridge squad to inch one game closer to accomplishing that task.

Inclement weather soaked Oakton’s lacrosse pitch for the second time this week and the regional quarterfinal was moved to West Springfield on Thursday night.

Down by two at the half, Oakton Captain Carly Palmucci got hot and punished the Bulldogs with six goals and six assists to lead her Cougars in a second half comeback, outscoring Stone Bridge 8-1 to reach the regional semis, with the 17-12 victory.

“[Carly] has been a varsity starter for three years and she’s so mature, such a team leader, and team player,” Coach Jean Counts said after the game during a phone interview. “She wants everyone to do their job but isn’t overly vocal about it.”

After letting up on the Bulldogs’ sprint attack in the first half, Counts gathered her team and inspired the girls to go out and leave it all out on the pitch. Palmucci heeded Counts’ words as she quickly found space, stormed the goal and drilled one of her six goals in the back of the net with 19:41 left to play to even the game at 12 apiece.

“[Carly] got a pass in the midfield, ran and shot it at [7 yards out],” Counts said. “It was a bullet into the top right corner.”

Three minutes later, Palmucci was in position to score again after a Stone Bridge penalty. Instead, she lobbed the ball to Kelsey Clarke, who rifled one past the Bulldog keeper for what proved to be the winning goal.

The match was a tale of two halves as Stone Bridge forced Oakton to play its game of power and aggression in the first 25 minutes. The Cougars found difficulty stopping Kayla Sleece who tallied three goals in the half alone.

“Sleece is super fast and scored four goals total,” Counts said. “Lacrosse is definitely her sport and she’s definitely a great player for [Stone Bridge.]”

Cougars Allie Turk and Rachel Kuykendall stepped their game up in the second as well to combine for five goals and several ground balls and interceptions on defense, which contributed heavily to the Oakton comeback.

“Allie played very well with two goals and Rachel Kuykendall played phenomenally both offensively and defensively as she scored three goals,” the coach said. “We kept her on the defensive line even though she was on attack to get that extra defense in there.”

Jackie Rupp helped Oakton disturb the Bulldog high speed tempo form the first half and had three draw controls in the second and scored the final goal with 1:40 left in the game to give her Cougars the win, 17-12.

“Our anticipation had to be improved, and it was in the second half,” Counts said. “We were passive in the beginning and then stepped it up. For the last ten minutes, we held the ball to keep our possession.”

The coach added that she believes coming from behind helped her girls mentally as they forge ahead into the semifinal against Langley next week.

“I think it’s a big mental push forward. We had to pull a couple people off the field that were not playing their game,” Counts said. “The best fact is that they made it past last year. It’s the third game where we’ve had a good, solid stall.”

Oakton plays in the regional semifinal at Westfield against Langley at 5 p.m. May 24.