In Wednesday night's Class 3A-2A girls lacrosse state championship, Century's attack needed a little time to decipher Stephen Decatur's defense and stellar goalie Jillian Petito, who were giving up just 4.7 goals per game.
As the game went on, the No. 6 Knights started finding more openings and scored five of the last six goals to beat previously undefeated Decatur, 10-7, for their seventh state championship at Stevenson University in Owings Mills.
The title put bookends on the careers of some of the 11 Century seniors who won a state title as freshmen.
"It's awesome to be back," midfielder Marissa Donoghue said. "Freshman year, we won states and normally this school wins it every year or they're [in the final] every year, and last year we didn't come at all. When I came in as a freshman, we were ranked fourth in the nation or up there and we started to go down and it drives me crazy. Being back and winning a state title my senior year, I couldn't ask for anything more."
The Knights (17-3) have been in the state final 11 times since 2003 and this is their fourth title in seven years.
The Seahawks, from Berlin on the Eastern Shore, were making their second appearance in the title game and aimed to become the first team from outside the Baltimore metro area to win a girls lacrosse championship. After Hannah Warther gave the Knights the early lead, the Seahawks (17-1) proved they had a chance, scoring three goals on their first three shots.
In a first half that ended 5-5, the Knights had a 13-6 advantage in shots, but Petito made eight of her 10 saves before the break.
Kylie Davis scored two of her three goals late in the half to help Century start a slow but steady comeback.
"The first half we were all taking shots and a bunch of us got stuffed, so we knew we had to adjust our shooting," Warther said. "I know Kylie really came through and got us a few goals, so she really started that fire in us. [Petito is] really good especially high, but I think we adjusted really well in the second half. I was a little scared in the first half, so I knew we had to get that fire going and we sure did."
After Elle Bargar gave the Seahawks a 6-5 lead to open the second half, Warther went high past Petito on a free-position shot from the center hash to tie the game for the third time with 15:04 left. The junior then rolled from the left side to hit the net for her third goal, an extra-man goal.
The Seahawks' aggressive defense contained a Century offense averaging 15 goals, but it also resulted in four yellow cards that led to two extra-man goals. With 11:21, one of Decatur's top midfielders Lexie VanKirk got a second yellow card and was out for the game. With 2:33 to go, their top defender Ally Beck got the team's fourth yellow card and the Seahawks had to play a player down for the rest of the game.
The lead didn't last long, because the Seahawks' Payton VanKirk tied it on a feed from Claire Porter with 8:30 to go.
Less than 30 seconds later, Maddie Dickman, the Knights' unsung hero according to coach Becky Groves, scored on a feed from Shelby Mercer. Warther won the next draw and Kylie Davis raced around the front of the crease to beat two defenders for a 9-7 lead with 6:50 to go.
"We knew that they were going to drive in really quickly," Petito said of Century's attack strategy, "and that they're extremely fast and we kind of had a tough time defending them when they were running in. They just beat us on those one-on-ones and they were just really fast."
Century goalie Catie Pluta made her only two saves late in the game to help preserve the lead and Madi Hall scored on a feed from Dickman for a 10-7 lead that sealed the win with 26 seconds left.
"Everybody did their part when they needed to do it," Groves. "And then when [Pluta] makes that one save (with about nine minutes to go), everybody plays different. It's a bonus, because unfortunately we don't have someone in there like they do — nobody does."
The Knights victory is the second for the team emerging from the two-year-old "section of death," as Groves refers to 3A-2A South Section I. Along with Century and last year's champion Marriotts Ridge, the section includes Mount Hebron, Winters Mill, Glenelg and Centennial. With Century's victory those teams have won 31 state titles. The rest of the teams in Class 3A-2A have won five.
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