2005 Girls' Lacrosse Mid-season Update
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A notoriously short season with game-packed weeks and the Blake Girls’ lacrosse team has no time to waste in making it happen this spring. With a 6-1 record and half the season behind them, the Bears have tallied up a total of 71 goals to their opponents’ 32.
v. Visitation 8-2
For the season opener on Monday, April 11, Blake traveled to Visitation to bring home their first victory with an 8-2 score. In the sheeting rain, something of a standard so far this season, Blake struggled with the successful pass, but the determination and experience at running down the ground ball resulted in a senior-only goal day. Senior captain Charlotte Hitch led the pack having her first hat trick of the season with 3 goals. Senior attack Ally Cram followed close behind adding 2 goals, while seniors Libby Murphy, Tara Dubbs and Laura Vincent all chipped in one a piece for the Bear’s total.
v. Totino-Grace 4-3
The following day, Tuesday April 12, was Blake’s home opener against Totino-Grace. Always a good match-up, both defenses were quickly put to the task and left both teams unable to score. Blake finally found the net with little more than a minute remaining and added their second goal with :06 on the clock. The Bears got it together in the second half with patience and better ball movement down the field to bring home their second win of the season with a 4-3 final score. Vincent led with 2 goals with Hitch and Murphy both chipping in a goal and an assist apiece. With her assist, sophomore Katherine “Chutey” Chute made her first marks of the season.
v. Eden Prairie 7-9
Monday, April 18 brought Eden Prairie to the Blake fields. In a challenging contest, the Eagles scored in the first minute of play only to be answered less than a minute later with a Murphy shot in goal. Following Eden Prairie’s second goal, Murphy again found the net to tie. Managing to maneuver around Blake’s strong defense for two more goals, Eden Prairie held the two goal lead before Blake’s Vincent brought the game to within one heading into the half-time break. The second half proved to be just as much a back and forth contest as the first. Adding three goals to the Blake total, Chute, sophomore Julia Heffelfinger and Vincent all found the net to keep the score within one. Assisted by Hitch, Murphy then tied the game to 7-7 with 1:40 remaining. Senior goalie Amanda Lillington had an incredible 14 saves and Freshman Emily Moos did an outstanding job at dismantling Eden Prairie’s leading scorer most of the game, but the final two draws resulted in what has come to be Eden Prairie’s signature run and gun game. Eden Prairie sophomore Hannah Anderson quickly barreled down the field for two goals giving Eden Prairie their 9-7 win.
v Shattuck-St. Mary 14-3
Traveling to Shattuck-St. Mary’s in Faribault on April 19, Blake made up for the many saved shots on goal against Eden Prairie to come away with a commanding 14-2 victory. Playing in the rain once again, most notable to Blake’s number of goals was the team’s unselfish and smart play for a total of 10 assists. Murphy had her second hat trick game of the season with 3 goals and 2 assists; Dubbs found the net twice; Hitch had a lone goal with a whopping 4 assists; Chute contributed 2 goals and an assist; and Vincent had one of each. Making tallies on the scoreboard for the first time this season were junior Ellie Barczak and sophomore Marissa Echtenkamp, each with 2 goals, and junior Abby Lawrence adding a goal of her own. Sophomore Jennings Grant also contributed to Blake’s solid results with 2 assists.
v. Mahtomedi 13-4
On the first truly sunny day of play (having invited the Upper School faculty to the game with a barbeque to follow), the Blake girls didn’t disappoint the large crowd with a high-scoring win against Mahtomedi on Thursday, April 21. Off an assist by Hitch, Dubbs put the first numbers on the board less than 2 minutes into the game. Thirty seconds later, Vincent captured the draw taking it down field for a quick pass to Murphy for goal. Mahtomedi brought the score to 2-1, but Blake would score three more times before giving them another opportunity. Hitch had two scorchers in a row followed by a Katherine Chute goal off an assist by sophomore Maggie Rogers. Following Mahtomedi’s second goal of the game, Blake’s Cram and Murphy (assist by Hitch) would add two more to make it 7-3 at half-time. As she had at the top of the game, Dubbs is credited with the first goal of the second half off an assist by Chute. Hitch had two more scorchers to give her a hat trick and a spare for a game total of 4 goals. Freshman Emily Moos, a tough midfielder, earned her first goal of the season off a Murphy assist. Chute once again added to the Blake total before Moos returned the favor of an assist to Murphy, adding an exclamation point of a goal with 1:19 remaining. In goal, senior Jackie Starr racked up 3 great saves and Lillington added 2 more. Blake’s 6 goals in the second half to Mahtomedi’s 2 gave Blake the 13-5 victory. Mahtomedi deserves credit for consistently hard play throughout the contest, and it may well have been the prep needed for their 2-1 win over Hopkins (ranked #2 in the preseason coaching poll) the following day.
v. MTKA 12-4
Minnetonka brought their 4-2 record and MSHSL leading scorer Melissa Lewry to the Blake fields on Monday, April 25. The Bear’s defense was ready. Blake got the first two numbers of the board with goals by Chute and Vincent, both off assists by Hitch. Minnetonka would tie the game 2-2 with goals of their own heading into the half. Things were definitely becoming interesting. Following the half, the defense came back to shut down Minnetonka’s ability to find the net. With four years experience at dominating the backfield, senior captain Kendall Boyd leads the Bears defense. Freshman Jamie McLaughlin has a tenacity that gets her the ball more often than not and seniors Genevievre Broche, Ashley Bjork and sophomore Kristine Admundson never make things easy for opposing offenses. Add to that a goalie whose experience on the ice transfers to the lacrosse field and a deep midfield that can double-team, check and score kept Minnetonka’s powers to a bare minimum. Blake went on to score 5 unanswered goals. With Hitch’s third of 3 assists, Murphy kicked things off with the first of her 5 goal and 2 assists game total. Chute had her first hat trick of the season with 3 goals; Hitch added a goal to her 3 assists; and in addition to 2 assists, Heffelfinger and Moos both chipped in a goal a piece for the Blake 12-4 victory.
v. Prior Lake 13-6
With Blake on an offensive scoring roll, Tuesday’s game against Prior Lake proved no different with the 13-6 win. At the top of the game, off an assist by Vincent, eighth-grader Margaret “Little Chutey” Chute made her scoreboard debut to get things rolling. Prior Lake’s Chelsea Cross tied thing up before another assist by Vincent would gave Hitch the first of her 5 goal, 2 assists game total. With 2 assists by K.Chute and one by Rogers, Murphy’s hot hand brought in a roaring 4 goals in a row before she’d cap out at 6 goals and an assist of her own by the end of game. Dubbs ability to find the net was once again confirmed to give Blake their 13 goal total.
Blake’s 6-1 record has them currently sitting in second place on the MSHSL leader board. The Bears will attempt to better their record by one when they travel to St. Louis Park (5-2) Thursday, April 28.
With sunnier skies surely to be predicted soon, come out and cheer as the Blake Bears girls’ lacrosse team “Make it Happen” in 2005!!
Upcoming Games
(A) St. Louis Park 4/28
(H) Roseville 5/3
(H) Benilde-St. Margaret’s 5/5
(H) Breck 5/9 Senior Night
(A) Hopkins 5/12
(A) Minnehaha Academy 5/17
All varsity games begin at 4:30.
Varsity Scoring Stats:
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| # | Name | Goals | Assists |
| 7 | Murphy, Libby | 22 | 9 |
| 3 | Hitch, Charlotte | 15 | 15 |
| 1 | Chute, Katherine | 8 | 6 |
| 6 | Vincent, Laura | 7 | 7 |
| 4 | Dubbs, Tara | 6 | 1 |
| 9 | Cram, Ali | 3 | |
| 25 | Heffelfinger, Julia | 2 | 4 |
| 23 | Moos, Emily | 2 | 1 |
| 15 | Echtenkamp, Marissa | 2 | |
| 18 | Barczak, Ellie | 2 | |
| 12 | Chute, Margaret | 1 | |
| 11 | Lawrence, Abby | 1 | |
| 22 | Rogers, Maggie | | 3 |
| 24 | Grant, Jennings | | 2
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