After consecutive close losses to quality opponents by a total of three goals, Catonsville girls lacrosse coach Cantey Evans knew exactly what her team had to do Friday night against unbeaten Towson.
They had to win the free balls and the draws and they did both extremely well while earning a 9-7 victory.
The loss was the first for the visiting Generals (6-1), while the Comets improved to 6-4.
"We talked about how Hereford won a lot of the 50/50 balls and so did St. Paul's (both losses) and that's something we have really been working on in practice, really trying to hone in on actually winning those 50/50 balls," Evans said. "To get that 'W' when you get those 50/50 balls is a good showing for them."
A majority of the 50/50 wins came at the center circle where the Comets won 14 of 17 draws.
Jenn Nonn was taking the draws in the first half when the Comets won all eight of them.
But they trailed at halftime 4-3 because of a sterling effort from Towson goalie Haley Hicklen (17 saves), who had nine saves in the first half.
She will play at the University of Florida next year.
Hope Lockwood, who will play for Mary Washington, had three goals and an assist in the opening 25 minutes.
Towson's Jamie Schneidereith scored the other Towson goal in the first half, while Catherine Della Santina and Shelby Fragetta added assists.
Catonsville trailed 4-1 with 7:59 left after Hicklen set up a score by Lockwood with a long clear.
McDonald, who will play for UMBC next season, took over the next several minutes.
She grabbed Nonn's draw and went straight to goal where she earned a foul and free position shot.
Hicklen had already stopped four of the first five Comet shots, including two on free position shots, but McDonald faked low and went high for the score, making it 4-2 with 7:16 left in the half.
"Hayley is a great goalie," McDonald said. "I played against her in club, but it was just really coming together and saying 'how can we beat her, she is so good, how can we get around her,' and I think once we figured it out, we put the ball in the net," McDonald said.
McDonald corralled Nonn's next draw and the Comets kept possession until freshman Rory Black scored a free position goal with 2:24 remaining.
McDonald talked about the turnaround after the four-goal deficit.
"We weren't finishing, we had the possession that we needed and we had the strong defense, it was just coming together and finishing and I think we did that," McDonald said.
Catonsville tied the score at 4-4 early in the second half on McDonald's second free position tally.
She leaned to the right then fired to Hicklen's right into the cage.
Towson's Schneidereith put the Generals ahead briefly on a goal off an assist from Della Santina, but Catonsville's Brittany Stevens (2 goals) tied it at 5-5 with 18:25 left.
Catonsville's Anderson Gill scored the go-ahead goal off an assist from Andrea McTaggart, making it 6-5 with 17:30 remaining, and the Comets never trailed again.
McDonald, Kelsey Scott and Nonn, a Virginia Commonwealth University recruit, scored the remaining Comet goals and Gill and Black had assists.
Catonsville also got solid defensive efforts from goalie Meghan Herilla and defenders Bri Spinnato, Lila Nazarian and Madi Jones and strong transition clears from speedsters Kayla Wood and Trinity McPherson.
They were playing against a Towson attack minus leading scorer Maggie Schneidereith, out with a foot injury.
"We did notice that," Evans said.
Winning most of the draws put the Towson defense in a vulnerable position because the Comets dominated time of possession, but defenders Lexi Smith, Sari Satterfield and Delaney Blottenberger responded admirably in front of Hicklen.
"She (Hicklen) is phenomenal," Towson assistant coach Melissa Diepold said. "She has a strong defense in front of her that gives her the save that is do-able. I mean she came up with some point blank saves left and right and it really helped us stay in the game."
What took the Generals out of the game when they were trying to come back in the second half were three consecutive failed clears in the span of three minutes from the 9:45 to the 6:45 mark.
Kayla Wood had an interception for the first forced turnover and, after an unforced turnover, Stevens caused a turnover and gobbled up the ground ball.
"It's great to see the pressure that they put on us because now we know we need to work on handling pressure," Towson head coach Jamie Giffuni said.
Catonsville is used to pressure, having lost to quality foes Century, Marriott's Ridge, Hereford and St. Paul's.
They lost to Marriott's Ridge and Hereford by a goal and St. Paul's by two.
"We have lot of good competition in our schedule and it really helps us. I think that prepared us to play great teams like Towson," McDonald said.