Mountain Ridge girls lacrosse team dominant once again in in year two
May 16, 2022 01:30PM ● By Justin Adams
By Justin Adams | [email protected]
The Mountain Ridge High School girls lacrosse team was dominant once again in year two, finishing the regular season with a 14-2 overall record and a 12-0 region record. Those marks are almost identical to last year, (15-1, 12-0). Despite the one additional loss, head coach Angie Brescia said this year’s team is better.
“We are a lot more deep this year. Last year I felt like it was mostly our starters that we could rely on, but this year we have a lot more depth,” she said.
That depth has allowed Brescia to deploy a lot more substitutions over the course of a game. With the extra rest, she expects her players to always go 100%.
Another big reason for the team’s success this year is the amount of experience on the roster. With only two seniors last year, the Sentinels relied on a lot of younger players to make big contributions. Now that extra experience is paying off.
The Sentinels have a strong attacking trio in Senior Morgan Mackey (58 goals), Sophomore Emmery Clark (56 goals) and Senior Paige Runia (48 goals). Clark and Runia also excel as field generals, with 30 and 25 assists, respectively.
One newcomer to the team is senior goalie Bekah Bargeron. Her family moved into the school’s boundaries, which was fortunate because the team was in need of a goalie.
“She knows her stuff, she communicates well with her teammates,” Brescia said.
Despite the success in back-to-back regular seasons, the Sentinels are focused on where they fell short last year: the playoffs.
As a No. 2 seed in the Division A playoffs, Mountain Ridge’s season came to an end in the second round at the hands of 10th-seeded Olympus.
“We were in our own heads a lot in our last game, so that’s been a big focus for us this season,” Brescia said.
Once again a No. 2 seed in the playoffs (though this year they’re organized by classification), the Sentinels entered the postseason focused on taking things one game at a time.
“We know that we can’t take any team for granted. That’s what we did last year, to our detriment,” Brescia said. “We’re going to play every game as if it’s our last and leave it all out there.”
Whatever happens in the playoffs, Brescia said she’s proud of how her team has played this year.
“I’m super proud of them for their positive attitudes and always playing hard and choosing to play a team rather than selfishly,” she said.
