Catonsville girls lacrosse rolls past Sparrows Point

Catonsville got back into the Baltimore County portion of its schedule after losing three straight hard-fought games to tough opponents and the Comets took it out on Sparrows Point in a 19-5 shellacking at home Wednesday evening.

The Pointers did put a brief scare into the Comets early, when they answered Brianna Spinnato's game-opening goal with tallies from Carli Zellers and Katie Barth for a 2-1 lead with 18:30 left in the half.

But Catonsville responded with three goals in 23 seconds, starting with Kelsey Scott's score off an Andrea McTaggart feed with 17:44 left.

Jenn Nonn won her fifth of seven consecutive draws to start the game and Kayla Wood corralled the ball at the center circle and raced down before assisting Scott just 13 seconds after her first goal.

Just 10 ticks later, freshman Brittany Stevens assisted older sister senior Brooke Stevens and Catonsville led 4-2 on the way to a 13-3 halftime lead.

Mia DiRuggerio scored the final three goals for Sparrows Point.

Catonsville patiently worked its offense in the second half with a running clock and coasted to the victory.

Brooke Stevens (3 goals, 2 assists), Scott and Anderson Gill (3 goals each), McTaggart (2 goals, 2 assists), Brittany Stevens (2 goals, 1 assist), Lauren McDonald (1 goal, 2 assists), Spinnato and McPherson (1 goal, 1 assist each) had multiple scoring efforts.

Nonn, Jen Gast and Maddie Schwaab had single goals for the Comets who had 11 different goal scorers.

That, and winning 22 of 26 draws, what was pleased Catonsville coach Becky Clipp Cassilly.

"We won the draw control, and I liked that everybody was involved in the game," Cassilly said. "We had some players, like Kelsey Scott, who stepped up and got some goals. She hasn't been playing a ton, or when she has been in, she hasn't gotten a lot of opportunities to score. It was nice to see her come off the bench and go right to goal."

McTaggart also made a strong impression.

"Andrea McTaggart stepped up today," Cassilly said. "I don't know if she had a ton of goals, but she was all over the field. She was just doing a lot of little things, which is what I want to see."

Not doing those little things were costly in losses over the holiday break to Severn, 15-13, and Severna Park, 10-6, and a non-league loss to Bryn Mawr, 17-9, on April 21.

Against Severna Park, they had 10 turnovers.

In the Bryn Mawr game they had 14, despite only being outshot 25-23.

They won 11 of 14 draws in the first half against Severn, but connected on just 6 of 18 shots.

Junior Nonn is aware the team has just four seniors, along with seven sophomores and four freshmen, but she's also confident they are talented.

"We have so much potential to be good and I'm just waiting for everyone to realize that and show our potential actually in the games," Nonn said.

The Comets are 4-6 overall, but 4-4 in the state standings because the tournament games don't count against them.

The other losses, besides Bryn Mawr, came against Towson, Hereford and Mount Hebron.

"Becky wanted to load our schedule with good teams because she knew we were going to be good and we are good, but we are just getting used to each other," Nonn said. "When we are on our game, we are good, but sometimes we are not on it, but you have your ups and downs."

Catonsville, which lost in the state championship game last year, closes the regular season with games at Loch Raven (April 25), home against Dulaney (April 28) and Mount de Sales (April 29) and at Perry Hall (April 30).

"Becky keeps telling us, 'Starting now, who cares about our record before, this is our journey," Nonn said. "This is our road to states and we area hoping that it is and we are all trying our hardest now."

Baltimore County girls lacrosse scores

Towson 16 Dulaney 6
Loch Raven 18 Franklin 17 OT
Pikesville 20 Owings Mills 3
Lansdowne 11 Western Tech 8
Hereford 18 Eastern Tech 4
Dundalk 18 Overlea 6
New Town 8 Milford Mill 6
Patapsco 14 Chesapeake 4
Kenwood 9 Carver 6

IAAM girls lacrosse scores

McDonogh 15 Bryn Mawr 7
St. Paul's 13 Roland Park 12
Garrison Forest 12 Notre Dame Prep 11 OT
Mercy 13 Park 10