Westminster girls lacrosse connects all over the field in 18-4 victory at Catonsville

Seniors Jess Kent and Paige Moreland combined for 14 points to lead visiting Westminster girls lacrosse to a dominant 18-4 victory over Catonsville on Friday night.

Kent scored seven goals and Moreland had three goals and four assists as the Owls scored the first 10 goals and were never threatened.

“They are definitely awesome contributors on the attacking end, and something that is great about them is their hard work and determination to contribute all over the field and not just in goals and assists,” Westminster coach Tori McDonald said. “Those two have been playing together a really long time.”

The pair has been playing together since first grade. In the first half alone, Moreland had four assists and two goals and Kent had four goals. Kent credited her teammates for the high-scoring game.

“I definitely can’t do it without all my teammates. Like, we’ve gotten so good at passing in our practices and just working on different plays and just getting it around to each other, so it was a good win,” Kent said.

Amelia Reed had seven draw controls and scooped up three ground balls while scoring two of her three goals in the opening half.

“They came out and they were winning the draws and taking it down and we just played a lot of defense,” Catonsville coach Cantey Bailey said. “We would stop them on the first one and then they would get the rebound and they were getting the 50/50 balls and they would finish off it.”

It was the second straight convincing victory this week for the Owls, who also defeated Francis Scott Key, 21-4.

Westminster's Paige Moreland, left, charges in to attempt a shot against Catonsville defender Sofia Aquino in the Owls' 18-4 win at Catonsville. Moreland had three goals and four assists. (John Gillis/for Baltimore Sun Media)

“I think it was just our girls connecting all over the field today. It was a very balanced effort and we had so many girls contributing with goals, assists, on our defensive end, causing turnovers,” McDonald said. “It was really just such a team effort today and this week has just been such an exciting time for us coming together as a team and really just starting to find our stride.”

The Owls also got two goals from Emma Youngling and one goal each from Riley Ebersole, Lauren Appleby and Annie Schinkai. Ebersole and Kate McAlonan each added an assist.

Catonsville’s only first-half goal came from Abby Webb. They got a goal from Ashley Dewitt and two from Leah Vacin in the second half.

Vacin, who will play lacrosse at York College next season, is one of only three seniors on the roster, along with Jordan Edwards and Kayla Walker. Edwards will play soccer at Salisbury University in the fall.

“All three of them have been doing an amazing job, not just on the field, but leadership-wise as well,” Bailey said. “None of them are the vocal leaders, but with their play, all three have really stepped up this year.”

Bailey, whose squad defeated Sparrows Point, 18-2, on Wednesday, praised her team’s tenacity despite the large deficit.

“We have had some struggles and we’ve had some people down and out and so I think the fact that being down by so much and we were still fighting for 50/50 balls and scoring those goals at the end and they don’t give up and that doesn’t happen all the time. So I think that is something to be proud of,” Bailey said. “They are a very, very good team and they played well and it just wasn’t our day.”

Westminster’s Jess Kent, right, puts a shot past Catonsville defender Lilly Antonelli and goalie Gabby Gray to score in the first half of the Owls' 18-4 victory. Kent scored seven goals. (John Gillis/for Baltimore Sun Media)

Moreland likes the way her team is meshing with county games on the horizon.

“We have some tough games coming up, but they were good competition and it was really just a good team win,” Moreland said.

McDonald, whose 5-1 squad has league games at home against Century on Tuesday and at Liberty on Thursday, enjoyed getting the nonconference win.

“I can see all across the field Catonsville’s awesome speed, so that is something that we are working on as well, just having speed throughout the field,” McDonald said. “So I think it’s a really good opportunity, I think for both teams to play someone out of conference, out of county and have that opportunity to see some different competition.”

Catonsville (2-3), whose other losses were to Towson and Century, will play Manchester Valley and Bel Air at Bel Air on Saturday.