Bishop England women’s lacrosse edges Falcons for state title

The Nation Ford Falcons were edged in the 4A girls’ state lacrosse championship, falling 6-5 to Bishop England.

Nation Ford had already accomplished a lot on the season having snapped J.L. Mann’s four-year reign and 67 game in-state winning streak to claim their first Upper State title and advance to their first state title game Saturday.

Bishop England controlled the ball most of the first half and got on the board first, scoring about seven minutes into the game. Nation Ford came back to tie the game at 1-1 a minute later on a goal by freshman Jacqueline Harris.

Nation Ford took a 2-1 lead two minutes later on a goal from junior Sam McNeil. However, the lead was short-lived as the Battling Bishops rallied to tie the game at 2-2 with 14 minutes left in the first half.

The Falcons’ defense was able to hold the Bishops off for most of the remainder of the half as they got several good looks at the goal, but failed to convert. Bishop England was finally able to score with 1:45 left in the first half to take a 3-2 lead into the break.

In the second half, Bishop England got several takeaways from the Falcons’ offense that drained the momentum from Nation Ford, stalling any progress. That kept the Falcons’ defense on the move trying to contain Bishop England.

At one point, both teams were unable to hold onto the ball as the Bishops had just as much trouble on the offensive end controlling possession.

The Bishops were able to hold off every rally Nation Ford mounted as Bishop England sophomore Ellie Long scored her third goal of the game to help her team regain a two-goal lead with about 20 minutes left.

Turning point

With the game tied at 5-5, Bishop England senior Rachel Banton scored the game-winning goal with 6:35 left. From that point, its defense held off several Nation Ford attempts, as the Bishops controlled the ball most of the time until the end of the game.

Critical

Bishop England scored just under a minute into the second half to take a 4-2 lead giving them the biggest lead of the game over Nation Ford.

Nation Ford scored back-to-back goals in about 64 seconds with Harris getting her third goal of the game and a hat trick, while senior Alexis Walden came back to tie the game at 5-5 with 8:08 left.

Star contributions

Harris scored three goals for Nation Ford and Long scored three goals for Bishop England. Banton added two goals for the Bishops as well.

Overheard

Nation Ford head coach Tom McNeil knew with the team struggling to hold onto the ball, it was going to make the game a hard one for his team to win.

“They (Bishop England) go after groundballs and possession a lot and we knew that coming in,” McNeil said. “They are disciplined about keeping the ball in their possession and if you don’t have possession you can’t score.”

Box score

Records

Bishop England 16-1, Nation Ford 14-3.

This story was originally published April 30, 2016 at 6:52 PM with the headline "Bishop England women’s lacrosse edges Falcons for state title."