Varsity Girls Lacrosse Results

2008 Varsity Girls Lacrosse

Excerpts and Links to Media Reports:
Please note: Some older stories may not be available online.

May 14, DigitalSports.com: Blake Girls Lax Wins in Golden-Goal Overtime

... Wootton rolls over B-CC in other semi

... Wootton took an early lead and never relinquished it in a convincing 15-9 win over Bethesda-Chevy Chase in the other 4A/3A West regional semifinal.

Top-seeded Wootton, who went up 5-1 in the first 15 minutes, got solid games from Julie Klatzkin, Joanna Sonley, Carly Bressler and Amelia Titus, who made 16 saves.

“I definitely think we’re playing pretty well,” Wootton coach Anne-Marie Ritzell said. “We’re definitely much more composed than we were last year and I hope we continue to be so tomorrow.”

May 14, Gazette: B-CC girls lacrosse beats Blair

There was a moment, at the end of the first half of Saturday’s girls lacrosse 4A-3A West Region quarterfinal playoff game between Blair and Bethesda-Chevy Chase, when the tide turned. The Blazers had scored, with less than two minutes remaining in the first half, to shave B-CC’s lead to three. The Barons could have chosen to sit on the lead and run out the clock.

Instead, junior Mimmy Wentzel, a transfer from Holton-Arms, shook herself free of her defender, took an entry pass, and found the back of the net for the Barons. That quick score spurred a four-goal run stretching into the opening minutes of the second half, and B-CC rolled to a 16-5 victory in Silver Spring.

‘‘Mimmy is a dynamic but in a lot of ways she is a subtle player,” B-CC coach Jenna Reis said. ‘‘It took the rest of the team a little while to know her strengths and get her the ball. She’s pretty humble, and she did not want to demand it, but when we started to get her the ball, we started winning.”

Wentzel scored six times as B-CC (9-3) won its eighth consecutive game. While they have figured out her role, the Barons have also figured out the roles of some other players as well. Senior attacker April Cahill has returned for the second half of this season, and set the tone early with a two quick scores in the first half. Liza Amling scored twice, serving as a reliable scoring option, as did Campbell Burr. And, as has been the case several times this season, senior Leslie Grill reprised her role as the Barons closer, scoring four times in the second half. Their poise during the game belied a case of nerves at the start. An 11 a.m. start was pushed back to 2 p.m., while Blair repaired a drenched field, and with Saturday’s prom looming, B-CC was anxious to get the game started

‘‘Man, there was so much stress,” Reis said. ‘‘But this team needed a little shaking up. They needed to handle a little adversity because they haven’t had it for a while.” ...

The Barons are hungry as well, and get to continue their season with a chance to avenge their last loss, which happened more than a month ago, on April 11. That game was against Wootton, the region’s undefeated top seed and spurred the changes that led to a winning streak for B-CC. By virtue of Wootton’s 9-4 win over Walter Johnson, the Barons got a rematch on Tuesday in a 4A-3A West Region semifinal game that finished too late for this edition of The Gazette.

‘‘We’re definitely different from the last time we played them but Wootton is different too,” Reis said. ‘‘They mean business. It took discipline and them to believe how good they are to bring about the change, and we still need to believe.”

May 7, Gazette: In the West, be wary of Wootton

Sherwood girls lacrosse coach Mitch Rosenfeld freely admits that in the past three seasons, he wanted the favorite’s mantle heading into the regional playoffs. This year, he’s happy to pass it off to someone else.

‘‘It’s everyone against Wootton,” Rosenfeld said of the Class 4A-3A West Region bracket. ‘‘Outside of Wootton, it’s wide open.” ...

After Wootton comes what Rosenfeld refers to as the ‘‘second tier” — not only Blake and Sherwood, but also B-CC and, unusually, Blair. ...

B-CC and Sherwood join Blair with three losses each. The Barons haven’t played many of their region rivals this season, but hung as close with Wootton (a 12-8 loss on April 11) as anyone has. With first-year coach Jenna Reis (late of Quince Orchard) and offensive powerhouse April Cahill, they have a puncher’s chance. ...

Fast facts

Favorite: Wootton (12-0)

Contenders: Blake (9-2), Sherwood (8-3), B-CC (6-3)

Darkhorse: Blair (7-3)

Players to watch: ... April Cahill (B-CC), Leslie Grill (B-CC)

May/June Banter: Girls Lacrosse News

By Charlotte Young

We have great hopes for our young Varsity lacrosse squad, led by seniors Leslie Grill, Michele Hayes and Kate Flaming. The big news for the 2008 Lady Barons lacrosse team is the arrival of new coach Jenna Siegel Ries. This is a homecoming for coach Ries, who was an All-Met athlete at B-CC before going on to play field hockey for the University of Maryland (her picture is in the Barons Blue and Gold room!). Before coming to B-CC, Jenna coached varsity field hockey and lacrosse at Quince Orchard HS, where her teams won two state titles, eight regional championships, and fourteen division titles. She's hoping to bring some of that magic to the B-CC lacrosse program with help from assistants Kristen Collins and Melissa Snyder, both High School All-Met and D-1 college field hockey players. The other news for 2008 is that this will be the first year of an official JV lacrosse program, which should help the school – and all of Montgomery County – develop a stronger lacrosse program for the future.

Apr. 25, DigitalSports.com: B-CC Crashes Poolesville's Perfect Season

Coach Jenna Siegel earns her one-hundredth victory as Barons win fifth straight

Bethesda-Chevy Chase coach Jenna Siegel earned her hundredth win in dramatic fashion Friday, beating an undefeated Poolesville team 19-8 for the Barons fifth win in a row.

Siegel earned her first 94 wins at Quince Orchard in an eight year coaching stint during which the Cougars lost just 20 games. This spring, Siegel inherited a program that returned just two starters from a year ago.

"It's a huge milestone and I'm pleased to be working with such a great group of people and they're just peaking at the right time," Siegel said. "Hopefully I can make it 106 before the regular season is over."

The Barons' five-game winning streak has been due in large part to the play of junior midfielder Liza Amling and senior goalie Kate Flaming. Amling scored a team-high six goals Friday as Flaming saved five shots. Amling scored the Barons' second and third goals from nine-meter shots on their way to an early 4-0 lead. After Poolesville pulled within a goal four minutes later, Amling and junior captain Mimmy Wenzel notched back-to-back goals to pull away.

"We usually come out with a bang but there's always a little let up... coach calls it 'checking out,' but we're trying to work on that," Amling said. "Things seemed to click today."

Siegel's team did the majority of its 'checking out' in the beginning of the season with early-April losses to Wootton, National Cathedral and Quince Orchard that put the Barons at 1-3. Since then, the B-CC has not scored fewer than 17 goals in five straight wins.

"We have been trying to work on working through mental lapses and today, although we had some, we weren't as vulnerable... we were making them before it got dangerous," Siegel said.

Apr. 23, Gazette: Lacrosse: B-CC starts slow, finishes fast

The pace in the first half on Saturday’s girls lacrosse game between Bethesda-Chevy Chase and Churchill was dizzying. In 25 minutes, the teams combined for 20 goals, but to Barons coach Jenna Ries, that wasn’t the story. Instead, it was the missed opportunities her team had and its difficulty in putting the game away. It took a while, but B-CC finally managed to do that, outlasting the Bulldogs, 19-14, in Bethesda.

‘‘The challenge is always to get the girls to see their potential,” Ries said. ‘‘In the flow of the game, there were moments where we could change things, where an extra pass or catch would have controlled the game, but they are not totally there yet. But, they are almost ready to go.”

As ready as B-CC (4-3 overall record) may have been by the end of the game, at the start, it was a bit sluggish. Churchill jumped out to three quick scores and looked ready to roll to an easy win. Yet, that setback was nothing for the Barons, considering the start to their season. In the opener, they were trounced by Quince Orchard 12-2, and immediately afterwards did some soul-searching.

‘‘After the opener, we really talked about what we needed to do to get going,” senior midfielder Leslie Grill said. ‘‘We only had two starters coming back from last year, and we really had to learn how to play together. We had to bond.”

That bonding continued even as B-CC lost two of its next three games. Yet, a tight 5-4 win over Magruder on April 15 sparked something. The Barons scored 19 against Richard Montgomery in a win before Saturday’s game.

‘‘We needed that spark,” senior Mimmy Wentzel, who transferred to B-CC from Holton-Arms, said. ‘‘Now everyone is working together. Every game, we are getting scoring from more and more girls, and we are really gaining confidence.”

That was evident in the way that the Barons scored their goals. After Lauren Plotnick (three goals), Hannah Baron and Teryn Hann (four goals) opened the game with tallies for Churchill, Wentzel got the Barons on the board with a quick wrist shot off a feed from midfielder Catherine Mirsky. With the seal broken, the Barons took off. Wentzel scored three more goals, and Grill, Campbell Burr and Liza Amaling scored three each. Senior April Cahill, playing in her first game of the season, added some more scoring punch, scoring six goals to lead the team, including five in the second half.

‘‘We’re so different from that first game,” Grill said. ‘‘It was like we didn’t know the rules then. Now, the goal is to play as hard as you can every possession. It’s a little cliché, but it has become our motto.”

Churchill (4-3) may adopt the same motto after this game. The Bulldogs relinquished that early lead and fell behind by as many as four goals in the first half, before closing the gap with frenetic runs to the net. For a while the tactic worked, as Hann and Plotnick scored four goals each, and junior speedster Angela Biciocchi broke through with darting runs to lead the team with six goals. But the effort expended in closing the gap took its toll. B-CC goalie Kate Flaming slapped away some late shots, which frustrated the Bulldogs. After closing the gap to 14-13 with three minutes left, they were outscored five to one.

‘‘B-CC is a good team and they had good transitions,” Churchill junior-varsity coach Christen Pena-Ariet said. Pena-Ariet filled in for varsity coach Louisa Feve who was not at the game. ‘‘What we can take from this is that we need to play more aggressively. We need to compete for the 50-50 balls, for every ground ball. We are going to play to win.”

B-CC has the same plan in mind, with the caveat that it is not worried about the margin of victory so much as the improvement that each win brings. In Ries’ estimation, her team has the talent to contend for a regional title, if it can find a way to transcend the worry about their opponent and focus on itself.

‘‘We’re looking for 12 people to be checked into each other all the time,” Ries said. ‘‘It is pushing through the fatigue at the end of the game and getting it done. That is going to the next level.”

Apr. 2, Gazette: With JV, will county’s girls look state-ly?

Junior-varsity lacrosse has arrived in Montgomery County, and the girls varsity coaches are rejoicing. ... The goal is that the junior varsity will feed and replenish the varsity ranks and bring parity to county competition as a whole. ...

Lacrosse in Montgomery County first took a foothold down county, and the teams in that area are looking to make some noise again. ...

B-CC, which suffered a disappointed quarterfinal loss to Springbrook last year, comes back with several players looking to help it advance further this season. Leading that charge is senior Leslie Grill, who will step in for the departed Shay Smith to add scoring, as well Holton-Arms transfer Mimi Wentzel. But the biggest addition may have been that of coach Jenna Reis, who comes over to the Barons after nine years at Quince Orchard. She turned the Cougars into a power, and may do the same with this talented group.

‘‘I see a lot of potential in this group,” Reis said. ‘‘We will be challenged early, but this is a team that can be very good in May.”

Fast Facts

B-CC Barons
Head coach: Jenna Reis, 1st year (10th overall)
Last year’s record: 8-4
League affiliation: Montgomery 4A⁄3A West
Players to watch: Leslie Grill (Sr., M), Mimi Wentzel (Sr., A), Michele Hayes (Sr., D), Catherine Mirsky (Jr., M)

* * *

May 1, 2007, Post: Smith, Cahill Break 100 For B-CC

A pair of Bethesda-Chevy Chase players reached 100 career goals in the past two weeks.

Senior midfielder/attacker Shay Smith eclipsed the mark April 23 in an 18-12 loss to Poolesville, and she currently has 109 goals, the highest total in program history.

Just behind Smith is junior midfielder April Cahill, who scored her 100th goal in Friday's 19-5 win over Seneca Valley.

"Those are the two kids who I would say, 'Shoot anytime you get the ball,' " said Bethesda-Chevy Chase Coach Claire Wagner. "Because eight out of 10 times, it's going to go in."

Smith (39 goals this year) and Cahill (26) helped the Barons go 10-4 last season, when they reached the regional semifinals. With only two seniors lost from that team, Bethesda-Chevy Chase is 6-3 this season.

Match reports:

May 10: 3A West Regional Quarterfinals
B-CC 16, Blair 5

The weather delay on Saturday did not dampen the B-CC Barons' determination to defeat Blair and keep their season moving forward toward a regional final. It took a few minutes for the players to adjust to the soggy fields, slippery ground balls and Blair's close defense…probably the closest the Barons had seen all season. Initially, Blair dominated possession and put the first goal on the scoreboard. B-CC goalie Kate Flaming had her work cut out for her, coming up with four critical saves in the first five minutes of the game, but that first Blair goal was their one and only lead of the afternoon. Eight different B-CC players racked up 16 goals and 6 assists throughout the game. This all was accomplished while conducting a patient, accurate passing possession strategy. Midway through the second half, spectators as well as frustrated Blair defenders watched what may have been the longest stall in the history of B-CC women's lacrosse.

Defensively, the lady Barons came up big when it counted, winning ground balls, intercepting passes, and double-teaming the Blair shooters. Flaming added another five saves during the game for a total of 9 on the day. Final score: 16-5 Barons. Coach Reis and company now travel to Rockville for a rematch against Wootton.

- Reported by Ann Amling

Apr. 25: B-CC 19, Poolesville 8

On a gorgeous spring night under the lights at B-CC on Friday, the Lady Barons varsity lacrosse team continued their improvement and dominated a good Poolesville team, 19-8, improving to 6-3 overall. The Barons dominated the faceoffs and overall possession and frequently forced turnovers on Poolesville clears. The Barons outshot the opposition by a wide margin; but for a fabulous performance by the Poolesville goaltender (who made saves on at least 14 point-blank shots) the score would have been even more lopsided.

The Barons relied on their usual stalwarts, April Cahill (5 goals), Liza Amling (5 goals), Leslie Grill (4 goals), and Mimmy Wenzel (3 goals), but the score reflects the domination by the Barons on the fundamentals – ground balls and forcing turnovers – that do not always show up on the score sheet. Michele Hayes, Catherine Mirsky, Campbell Burr, Kinsey Hoffman, Laura O'Brien – there were many heroes in this game.

Poolesville took the opening faceoff but turned it over without a shot, allowing Mimmy Wenzel to race into the offensive end and drop it off to Leslie Grill, who drove straight to the net and scored, making it 1-0.

Poolesville got the faceoff, but Kinsey Hoffman forced a turnover and after a shot, save, and another forced turnover, Liza Amling took it right up the middle, forced a foul, and scored on the penalty shot to make the score 2-0.

April Cahill took the face off, dropped it off to Amling who repeated what is obviously a winning formula – driving straight to the net, drawing a foul, and scoring on the penalty shot. After Amling made the score 3-0, Michele Hayes got the ensuing faceoff, passed to Campbell Burr, who passed to Sunny Cobb, who scored to make it 4-0 six minutes into the game.

Cobb got the ensuing faceoff and dropped it off to Mimmy Wenzel, whose shot was foiled by a great save; the Barons forced a turnover, and Leslie Grill's penalty shot was blocked, starting a nice sequence of Poolesville passing down the field, leading to a penalty shot. Kate Flaming made the save, but a scramble in front of the net led to Poolesville's first goal, to make the score 4-1.

Leslie Grill took the faceoff, dropped it off to Amling, who drove straight to the net, drew a foul, and was foiled on the penalty shot by a terrific save. Poolesville again passed it down the field, drew a foul, and scored on the penalty shot, to cut the Barons' lead to 4-2.

Poolesville took the faceoff, and scored on a nice pass to a cutter in front, drawing to 4-3. After taking the faceoff, Amling again drew a penalty shot, and again was foiled by a great save. But Amling got the ball back, and went to the net again, making the score 5-3. Amling got the faceoff and passed it to Cobb, who hit Wenzel on the move in front; Wenzel scored to increase the lead to 6-3. Two Liza Amling ground balls on faceoffs, and two Leslie Grill goals later, the Barons began to take control.

After a Poolesville score, April Cahill added two goals, and the half ended with the Barons up 10-5.

The second half was more of the same, Poolesville would not give up, but dominating play by the Barons defense and shot after shot on the Poolesville goaltender took its toll. Three goals by Cahill, two each by Amling and Wenzel, and goals by Grill and Nancy Makuch rounded out the Barons' scoring to bring the final to 19-8. But the Barons' defense was very effective, Kinsey Hoffman, Laura O'Brien, Catherine Mirsky, Mimmy Wenzel, Anna Genova, Michele Hayes – the Barons disrupted the Poolesville patterns and forced turnovers all over the field, turning what could have been a close game into a not-so close game. Goaltender Kate Flaming saved several penalty shots and forced even some close shots wide, disappointing Poolesville when they tried to get a rally going. Overall it was a fine effort by the Barons, who have shown enormous improvement from the start of the season.

- Reported by Calvin Cobb

Apr. 23: B-CC 17, Walter Johnson 11

The B-CC Barons women's lacrosse team added another tally to the win column Wednesday night, defeating Walter Johnson 17-11. After starting the season with two losses to public school powerhouse Quince Orchard and a strong team from National Cathedral, new coach and B-CC alum Jenna Reis has molded the Lady Barons into a formidable squad. The team has won five of their last 6 games, scoring double digits in all their victories.

There were several keys to the Barons' success Wednesday night, the first being the draw controls. Senior co-captain Leslie Grill won the first of a record number of draw controls to start the game, and the Barons scored three unanswered goals to take the early lead. WJ managed to go on a scoring run late in the first half to tie the game and and at one point were up by one to keep it close early in the second. But that would prove to be the best they could do. Grill was not content to just take the lead on the draws. She tallied a career high 7 goals, and when she wasn't scoring she was causing mayhem on defense, aggressively checking to cause numerous turnovers throughout the game, allowing the Barons to regain possession and score some more. Even with Grill's 7 goals and two assists the scoring distribution is impressive. Fellow senior April Cahill scored 2. Juniors Mimmy Wenzel, Liza Amling, and Catherine Mirsky each had 2 goals, and sophomores Campbell Burr and Sunny Cobb scored one each. Burr, Cobb, and Wenzel each posted assists. Defensively, the Barons held their own as well, winning ground balls to deny possession to the opponent. Senior goalie Kate Flaming had several key saves and continues to show her fearless defensive abilities outside the cage, dashing for missed shots behind the goal to beat the offensive opponent and win back possession for her teammates.

Well-coached until the end, the Barons were controlling the game, giving up scoring opportunities to maintain possession and finish off the night. Under the two-minute mark WJ had one last run toward our goal. Junior Nancy Makuch ran the length of the field with the WJ player, and caused the final turnover of the game to deny WJ any more chances for an additional goal. She came up with the ground ball, and with a flurry of passes the Barons had possession in front of the WJ goal as the game ended.

- Reported by Ann Amling

Apr. 11: Wootton 12, B-CC 8

The B-CC Lady Barons took to the road Friday night for a test against undefeated Wootton High School.

The Barons went down 4 goals to one in the first ten minutes, with the first Baron goal provided by a nice shot from junior Mimmy Wenzel. But the Barons went on a tear during the next ten minutes. Junior defender Clare Becker stole a Wootton pass and passed to junior midfield Catherine Mirsky, who quickly passed to junior Liza Amling, leading to the first of three goals by Amling in the half. Wootton added one goal before senior captain Leslie Grill added another for the Barons, and Wootton scored one with a minute remaining. The half ended with B-CC down, but within striking distance, at 6-5.

Junior Nancy Makuch and sophomore Laura O'Brien teamed with Becker on the defense. Sophomores Sunny Cobb and Campbell Burr joined Amling on the front line. And sophomore Anna Genova joined Mirsky, Grill, and Wenzel in the midfield.

Two quick goals from Wootton to start the second half helped the home team start to slip away from the visiting Barons. Leslie Grill added her second goal on the evening to make the score 8-6 with 17 minutes to play. The two teams traded goals, with the Barons tally provided by Catherine Mirsky, to keep B-CC within two 9-7. But three unanswered goals by the home team put the game out of reach. Amling scored her fourth goal of the evening with two minutes left, but Wootton had a comfortable margin, and the Barons went down in defeat, 12-8.

- Reported by Bruce Becker

Apr. 2: Quince Orchard 12, B-CC 2

The debut of new B-CC lacrosse coach Jenna Siegel Ries started off well enough. On a clear, cool spring evening in their home opener, the Lady Barons took a quick one-goal lead off Montgomery County rival Quince Orchard, thanks to a goal by senior captain Leslie Grill off an assist from junior captain Catherine Mirsky.

It was a fleeting moment of glory, however, and the honeymoon for the B-CC alum-turned coach was short lived. Quince Orchard turned the tide on the Barons and scored six unanswered goals in the first half. The QO team settled into a deliberate, passing offense, and the young Barons had trouble disrupting it. The damage might have been worse, but senior goalie Kate Flaming knocked away seven shots on goal in the first half.

Senior captain Michele Hayes led a determined defensive unit, flanked by freshman Melissa Jaskiewicz and sophomore Anna Genova, who scooped up a team-leading four ground balls. Junior D-wings Liza Amling (2 GBs) and Clare Becker (3 GBs) joined senior center Leslie Grill (2 GBs), along with A-wings Catherine Mirsky (1 GB) and Laura O'Brien in the midfield. Anna Molinaro and Kinsey Hoffman (1 GB) provided relief off the bench to the midfield unit. On the attack, junior transfer and captain Mimmy Wenzel (2 GBs) was joined by sophomores Sunny Cobb (2 GBs) and Campbell Burr (1 GB), with helf from sophomore Rachael Keeling (1 GB) off the bench.

The young Barons took the field in the second half hoping to turn things back in their direction, but things didn't go much better, as QO threw in three goals in the first five minutes. Goalie Flaming stopped eleven more shots, but QO was too much. A brief flurry late in the half gave the Barons a second goal with a nice shot by Mimmy Wenzel off an assist by Liza Amling. But in the end the margin was a lopsided 12-2.

- Reported by Bruce Becker

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