Century's girls lacrosse team focused this week on a defensive strategy that started long before its opponent got anywhere near the attacking end.
"Earlier in the week, Coach [Becky Groves] said that the best goalie is possession, so as long as we have the ball and they don't, then they can't score," said senior defender Kristen Yanchoris.
It's a basic concept but one that No. 6 Century worked to near perfection in Saturday's 19-2 Class 3A-2A state semifinal victory over Middletown at Annapolis High School. Even though Century won only seven of 13 first-half draws, it forced Middletown into nine turnovers and converted five as it built an 11-1 lead by halftime.
Century (16-3) will go for its seventh state title when it meets Stephen Decatur (17-0), a 7-6 winner over Hereford in the other semifinal, Tuesday or Wednesday at Stevenson University in Owings Mills.
"It's a great feeling," said senior Madi Hall, who led Century with six goals and an assist. "We have 11 seniors on our team and we all said we are not ending the season without going to the state championship. It's been a goal since freshman year. We won it freshman year and we want to get that feeling back again."
Century won an earlier meeting, 12-3, but Middletown had 10 seniors and many athletic players as well as goalie Carly Tolino, Frederick County's top defensive player. Tolino, who is headed to UMBC, had a 54 percent save rate coming into the semifinal and had allowed just 6.33 goals per game.
"I asked them earlier in the week what was the toughest defense," Groves said, "and they said Middletown's goalie, but I said it was possession. We knew going in that their goalie had a strong game the last time we played, so they can't score if we have possession."
Saturday, Middletown (11-8) won the first draw and took the lead on Rilee Bradshaw's free-position goal, but the highlight reel was all Century's after that.
Yanchoris won the next two draws and Hannah Warther and Kylie Davis scored within two minutes to give Century a 2-1 lead and kick off a 17-goal run. Century's defense, led by seniors Yanchoris, Mandi Trostle, Erin Bielski and sophomore Caroline Glenn held Middletown scoreless for more than 40 minutes.
"We focus on not fouling and getting those 8 meters, because that's been hurting us throughout the season," Trostle said. "We just played good defense straight up and we got those ground balls and we had those great clears. It feels awesome to not only be scoring a lot but stopping them from scoring a lot too."
Century's attackers were much more efficient this time than in the first meeting. They scored on 11 of 16 first-half shots and 19 of 32 in the game.
Against their relentless defense and the quick transition, the players noticed a change in Middletown after Hall's free-position goal boosted the lead to 7-1 with 9:53 left in the fist half.
"Right when you break them, it's the best time to step it up another notch," Yanchoris said. "When the score was about 7-1 is when we saw all their body language change and at halftime we knew we still had to come out strong like we did the first half."
Hall scored twice in the first five minutes of the second half to keep Century rolling and Bri Chavis finished of the 17-0 run with 10:51 left. Groves dipped into her bench and the half breezed by with the running clock that kicked in when Century's lead hit 10 goals.
Warther added four goals for Century while Davis and Chavis each had two goals and an assist. Maddie Dickman also had two goals and Shelby Mercer had two assists.
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6Century 19, Middletown 2
Goals: M—Bradshaw 2; C—Hall 6, Warther 4, Dickman 2, Davis 2, Chavis 2, Donoghue, Hatmaker, Connolly. Assists: M—none; C—Mercer 2, Hall, Davis, Hart, Chavis. Saves: M—Tolino 5; C—Pluta 3. Half: C, 11-1.