Holy Names Varsity Lacrosse Wins Western States High School Division 1 Championship.

The Cougars participated in the Western States tournament in Davis, California this past weekend, March 31 – April 1.  The team traveled down Friday morning with coaches Kelly Cox and Ingrid Martens and spent the day adjusting to the California heat and playing around a little.  The main goal for the weekend was to bond as a team, have fun and take our level of play to a higher level.  Well, this goal was accomplished.  We started out the day Saturday against Cate high school.  The Cougars jumped out to a quick lead and never looked back.  The final score was 14 – 2 with six players scoring the goals.  Next up was Monte Vista high school.  This was a tougher game but the Cougs once again showed California what they were made of winning the game 9 – 5 with six players once again scoring the nine goals.  When the third game hit on Saturday the sun had taken a toll on the players and major fatigue set in but the Cougars came out strong anyways.  They started out in front of St. Ignatius but weren’t able to hold on to finish the game.  St. Ignatius came out fired up the second half and took the lead to win the game 12 – 6.  The Cougars quickly put this loss behind them and looked forward to the semifinals the next morning.

The morning came and the Cougs faced the first place team from the other pool, Davis High.  The Cougars came out like a team that couldn’t be stopped from their ultimate goal of making it to the finals.  It was an incredible team effort by both the attack and defense.  The defense and keeper Elizabeth Hinson held Davis to one goal in the first half and two in the second half.  Their quick double teams and aggression on the ground balls stopped Davis in their tracks.  The midfield did an excellent job of transitioning the ball up the field to our homes who were able to finish the job off superbly.  Dee Dee Banel had five goals in this game and Brenna Sweeney had three goals to beat Davis 8 – 3.

On to the finals.  The Cougars were up for the rematch against St. Ignatius and eager to show them a different team than the sun fatigued team the day before.  St. Ignatius scored the first goal quickly but the Cougars responded immediately and never looked back.  Defensive efforts, led by Martha Geoghegan, Jenny Levesque and Molly Volberding once again slowed down the fast breaks of St. Ignatius and Elizabeth Hinson had an incredible game with MANY MANY saves.  This game was very much a team effort with five players scoring and the attack controlling the ball for five minutes at the end of the game to stall St. Ignatius’ attempted comeback.  The Cougars were able to hold strong and when the final whistle blew the score was Holy Names 7, St. Ignatius 6.  The Cougars launched into a full celebration. 

Dee Dee Banel led the team in scoring for the weekend with 12 goals and Brenna Sweeney was close behind her with 11 goals.  Brenna led the team in assists with ten.  Other high scorers included Suzanne Tay with 7 goals and Kristen Thyng and Alex Rombough with 5 goals each.  Congratulations to the Cougars on a weekend well played, especially seniors Brenna Sweeney, Kristen Thyng, Dee Dee Banel, Katie Schaffnit, Martha Geoghegan, Elizabeth Hinson, Whitney Wedge, Michelle Uhlenkott, Anne Chin, and Megan Schedler!!!