PASADENA — The Manchester Valley girls lacrosse team's road to a potential three-peat in Class 2A-1A this spring has been filled with familiar foes and few speed bumps.
Earlier this week, the Mavericks met Walkersville in the 2A-1A West Region final for the third straight year. Friday night's 18-2 win over Queen Anne's marked the third time in three years Man Valley bounced the Lions in the state tournament's latter stages.
And when the Mavs (18-1) attempt to win their third straight title next week at Stevenson, they'll face Fallston, which they beat in the 2014 final for their first state championship.
Behind five goals from senior attack Lizzie Colson, four goals from sophomore attack Lauren Cremen, and seven points from junior attack Anna Geist, Man Valley's blowout win at Northeast High School unfolded with little resistance, much like the majority of the Mavericks' 2016 campaign.
"I'm excited for my girls," MV coach Shelly Brezicki said. "The state championship isn't something that happens every day, and I think for our girls, they've worked hard to get there, so I'm excited for them. I want them to enjoy that atmosphere and environment."
The lone moments of doubt for Man Valley came in a 23-second span in the first five minutes of the game, when Queen Anne's midfielder Madison Ascione sliced through the defense with deft cuts to beat junior goalie Kate Brewster twice. The Lions (12-8) led 2-1, with 21 minutes, 7 seconds left in the first half, but Man Valley held them scoreless the rest of the game.
"After every goal our defense comes together and talks about if we didn't bump, if we didn't rotate right," junior midfielder Rayna Deltuva said. "So after those two goals happened … we knew what changes to make so we just came together and said the one person wasn't bumping over and rotating, so we needed to rotate faster and get that first step in."
From there, the Man Valley offense rolled. Geist scored two goals in a row to put the Mavericks back in the lead for good, while Colson took over in the center circle to help Man Valley control possession. If the ball settled in Colson's stick, the Maryland-bound senior loped through the Lions' defense before unleashing a shot.
Colson's five goals gave her 99 on the season, and Friday night was the latest in the offensive clinic she has put on against Carroll County competition and beyond.
"Lizzie is a special kind of kid," Brezicki said. "She has talent that is very high at the high school level, but she's not good by accident. This is a kid that works exceptionally hard to be this good. She has her stick in her hand all the time."
In the playoffs, Geist has taken her star turn alongside Colson. The junior, who moved into the starting lineup this spring, has 16 points in the past two playoff games. She's been able to get her own shots into the back of the net, but she's also been a primary playmaker on the left side. In the wins over Walkersville and Queen Anne's, Geist has seven goals and nine assists.
"It's kind of crazy," Geist said. "It's really exciting. It's a new experience for me. … It's really cool for me to step up and have those points and recognize that I'm really filling in."
Next week's contest against Fallston will mark the second time in three years Man Valley has faced the Cougars for the state title. In 2014, the Mavericks scored a 13-10 win for their first state title. In the first game of Friday's doubleheader, Fallston won 17-5 over Sparrows Point to return to the title game.
All season long, Man Valley's slogan has been "One More," in that the Mavericks are always trying to get that extra ground ball, that extra goal, that extra shot. But now, in mid-May, there's one more game remaining.
"To get to that point, that's a really big deal," Geist said. "But we can't let down now. 'One more' still goes on because now it's one more title. It's not one more game now."
Goals: MV- Lizzie Colson 5, Anna Geist 4, Lauren Cremen 4, Rayna Deltuva 2, Beanie Colson 2, Lindsay Seipp; QA-Madison Ascione 2.
Assists: MV-Geist 3, L. Colson 2, B. Colson 2; QA-McKenna Blick, Paton Batchelder.
Halftime: MV, 12-2.
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