Covenant captures girls lacrosse crown

After coming up short in the LIS championship game over the past three seasons, Covenant was on a mission in Monday’s title game to get over the hump.
The Eagles survived an evenly-matched, high-intensity battle with The Steward School that came down to the final seconds, 10-9.
“It feels good,” coach Kim Dean said after the win. “The girls have worked so hard this year and every year to get us to this point. You’ve got to hand it to Steward, they played a phenomenal game, but our girls overcame their intensity and focus.”
The two teams went one-for-one throughout most of the contest, despite drastically different styles of play. Covenant (10-3) played up-tempo, physical lacrosse, while Steward preferred a patient slow-down approach.
“We’re a fast break team, and we’ve always been, we can pass up that field faster than most teams around,” admitted Dean. “They definitely tried to slow the game down, but we’ve got some shooters and some go-getters who just won’t stop and keep pushing.”
The combination of Kristy Leahong and Christina Ringstrom proved to be the difference when all was said and done, as each Covenant junior recorded a hat trick to pace the Eagles.
Speedy freshman Taylor Brown added two goals to help the cause. Senior Holly Sargeant dished out a team-high three assists.
Steward (10-5) scored as time expired in the first half, and Dean wanted to send a message to her team at the half.
“We told them to leave everything out on the field, this is the championship,” said Dean. “These are the games you practice for, you sprint for, you condition, you lift; all for games like this. There really is no tomorrow if you want to be LIS champions.”
Covenant responded and tied the game early in the second, as Brown intercepted a Steward pass and took it coast-to-coast for a score. Junior Alina Murphy followed that up with another goal and the Eagles regained the lead.
Tied at 7-7, Covenant went on a 3-0 spurt to put a little distance between the teams, featuring two nifty goals by Leahong and another off a nifty assist in transition for Ringstrom, and the Eagles led 10-7 with seven minutes left.
The Spartans did not go quietly, however, and scored two quick goals in less than a minute to cut the Covenant lead to one.
The Eagles picked up the pressure defensively down the stretch, and senior defender Julia Gilliam picked off a pass with 16 seconds left to save the game and the league title for her team on her birthday.
The Eagles won’t have much time to prepare for the VISAA tournament, as Norfolk Collegiate comes to town this afternoon.
Dean hopes that the quick turnaround won’t have a big effect on her squad.
“That didn’t deter our girls from going 100 percent out there today,” Dean said. “I just keep telling them that there’s no tomorrow, we’ve got to take it one game at a time and give it everything we’ve got.”
The fourth-seeded Eagles play No. 5 seed Norfolk Collegiate today at 4 p.m.