McDonogh junior goalie Gabbe Cadoux wanted nothing more this season than to help her senior teammates win another Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference championship and finish their careers without a loss.
Her performance in No. 1 McDonogh's 12-11 semifinal victory over No. 7 John Carroll had a lot to do with the Eagles' return to Sunday's title game rematch with No. 5 Roland Park, a 10-9 winner over No. 3 Archbishop Spalding in the other semifinal. The Eagles (20-0), whose winning streak reached 132 games, are aiming for their seventh straight championship.
Cadoux finished with 10 saves, five in each half. But two in the first 12 minutes of the second half were probably her biggest, helping the Eagles maintain their second-half momentum with a four-goal run.
"It's really exhilarating to feel that and to feel like you're helping the team out a lot," Cadoux said.
The Eagles trailed by two after Kara Klages' extra-man goal boosted the Patriots' lead to 8-6 just after halftime, but Kelsey Cummings answered with a free-position goal for the Eagles. Then Blair Kessler, who led the Eagles with four goals, rolled the crease to tie the game with 19:28 left.
Two minutes later, Cadoux made a point-blank save on one of the Patriots' biggest threats, Caroline Sdanowich. Kessler and Julia Hoffman scored back-to-back goals to give the Eagles a 10-8 lead with 14:49 to go.
"Gabby is amazing," senior midfielder Olivia Jenner said. "She comes in so key, especially when they are such an athletic team and it's hard to stop every single one of their weapons. And Gabby was just a wall, basically, in the goal today for us."
Cadoux then stopped a shot by Mary Kate Gerety shot, a save that proved more critical after Sdanowich scored twice to even the score at 10 with 10:34 to go.
After Brindi Griffin fed Kessler for an 11-10 Eagles lead with 9:08 to go, Cadoux made two more saves.
Once again slowing the offense, Jenner found a one-on-one opportunity from the top of the 8-meter arc and, with a quick first step, dodged her way to a clear shot past Patriots goalie Katy Sharretts (nine saves).
The Patriots got one back when Emory Gaeng fed Gerety with 3:40 left, but Elizabeth George won the next draw for coach Chris Robinson's Eagles, and they stalled the rest of the way.
Despite the loss, coach Abbey Swift's Patriots (12-5) had a stellar season. Their five losses came by a total of six goals. They lost only one game — to McDonogh, 8-6, in the regular season — by more than a single goal.
"We just have heart and we wanted it so bad. We wanted to break their record," said Klages, a senior well aware that the Patriots were the last local team to beat the Eagles, in the 2008 A Conference final. "We've been working so hard for it, and we had it, but they just stalled it."
McDonogh will play Roland Park at 3 p.m. Saturday at Gerstell Academy, in a rematch of last year's final, a 16-13 Eagles win.
The Reds (13-5) are aiming for their first lacrosse title since the IAAM was founded in 2000. In 1998, they won the last of their six championships in the Association of Independent Schools.
Francesca Whitehurst scored the game-winning goal with about six minutes left in the game as the Reds held off the Cavaliers (15-5), who rallied to tie after being down 9-5 in the second half.
Once Whitehurst's goal made it 10-9, the Reds got possession with about 3:30 left and salted away the rest of the game.
Anna Hauser scored three times for the Reds, who at one point led 8-3 in the first half.
Emily Cooper led the Cavaliers with three goals.
C Conference
The C Conference championship between Annapolis Area Christian School and Catholic will be played at 5 p.m. Monday at Maryvale, as AACS doesn't play on Sundays. The B Conference championship between Mercy and Glenelg Country School will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday, before the A Conference final.
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Editor's Note: A previous version of this article misspelled McDonogh junior goalie Gabbe Cadoux's name.