Saturday, May. 07, 2011

Lady Cougars take on Gibbons for East

Apex girls need rally to win in overtime

After Kristi Marks scored to pull Apex within one with 4:07 left in the game, she refused to celebrate with her girls lacrosse teammates and instead ran downfield to prepare for the ensuing draw control.

One minute later, her teammates were all over her.

Marks scored the game-tying goal against East Chapel Hill to send the Cougars into overtime where they completed the comeback and won 18-15 in the sectional road of the NCSHAA playoffs.

The Wildcats (11-3) held a four-goal lead with 11 minutes remaining in the game after a Sydney Holman goal. But Apex came back with four unanswered goals to tie the game and go to overtime. There, the Cougars scored three goals to advance to the East finals.

The Cougars, still unbeaten at 18-0, will hit the road Tuesday to play at Cardinal Gibbons in the East final.

The Cougars routed Gibbons 20-1 in the two team's first meeting.

Cardinal Gibbons 15, Green Hope 11: When Green Hope and Cardinal Gibbons girls lacrosse teams last met on March 23, it was the Falcons who had to dig out of a major deficit to pull off victory.

This time around - with the two battling in the third of the NCHSAA lacrosse playoffs - it was the Crusaders who found themselves in a big hole early.

And like Green Hope did last time, Gibbons managed to shake it off.

The Crusaders (16-2) erased a 3-0 deficit early on and used a 4-0 run early in the second half to take control, eventually taking a 15-11 victory that pushed them to the regional round of the playoffs.

They're now one win away from the state championship game.

But that game won't be easy as Gibbons must host Apex, a rematch of a regular-season blowout with the Cougars winning 20-1.

The winner gets a date in the state championship game on May 14 at WakeMed Soccer Park.

The Crusaders' Shelby Scanlin scored six goals, including her team's first of the contest.

Scanlin's first strike sparked a 4-0 run for Gibbons over the next four minutes and the Crusaders took a 7-6 lead into halftime.

Green Hope never got within three goals the rest of the way after Cardinal Gibbons opened the second half by scoring five of the game's next six goals.

For Green Hope, Maggie Auslander scored four goals, while Rachel Chapla and Campbell Stanley each added two.

Correspondent Joe Overby contributed to this report