Baltimore, Long Island Lead WDNT's Top Flight
by Brian Logue | Lacrosse Magazine Online Staff | Live Blog
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Taylor Gait and her Northern New York 2 team lead Pool B in the Oneida Division with a 3-0 record. © Kevin P. Tucker |
BEL AIR, Md. – More than 1,100 of the nation's top high school girls' lacrosse players took to the fields at Cedar Lane Sports Park for the first day of the US Lacrosse Women's Division National Tournament, presented by deBeer and the Heather Leigh Albert Foundation. The event, which dates to 1933, includes 55 teams in the Schoolgirls Division, eight teams in the Seniors Only Division, and more than 160 players competing in the first round of the tryouts for the 2010-11 U.S. women's national team through the Stars & Stripes Division.
Capping off the day was the Seniors' Only Division all-star game, where Kelyn Freedman sparked a second half spurt to lead the Black team to a 15-4 victory over the White team. Freedman, a senior at Radnor (Pa.) High School who is headed to Georgetown, had a hand in six straight goals as her team pulled away from a 6-3 lead early in the second half. Freedman had three goals and three assists in the run and was awarded the Beth Stone Award as the outstanding player in the division.
Also honored on Saturday evening were umpire Laurette Payette with the Nancy Chance Service Award and U.S. World Cup team member Michi Ellers with the Beth Allen Award.
In the top flight of the Schoolgirls Division – the Onondaga bracket – defending champion Philly 1 suffered a 15-10 loss to Long Island Metro 1 in its first game, but did bounce back to beat Western Lower New England and Baltimore Metro 2 to keep its title hopes alive. Long Island Metro 1 and Baltimore Metro 1 lead their respective pools within the bracket with 3-0 records.
In the Seneca Division, Eastern Lower New England 3 and Long Island Metro 3 will play what amounts to a semifinal game on Sunday at 8 a.m. when they square off. Both carry 3-0 records in Pool A of the division while DC Metro is in control of Pool B with a 3-0 record.
The Oneida Division features four undefeated teams heading into Sunday's pool play. In Pool A, DC Metro 4 leads with a 3-0 mark, but Hudson Valley is 2-0. In Pool B, Northern New York 2 has a 3-0 mark and is followed by Baltimore Metro 3 at 2-0.
In the Tuscarora Division in Pool A, South Florida is the only unbeaten team at 2-0, but DC Metro 5 has show signs of a comeback with a 2-1 record. DC Metro 5 closed the day with a 9-5 victory over previously unbeaten San Diego. In Pool B, North Coast Ohio (3-0) and Philly 4 (2-0) have moved out in front.
The Mohawk Division features just eight teams and the semifinals are set. Nor Cal (3-0) will meet North Carolina (2-1) in one semifinal while Texas (3-0) takes on Western Pennsylvania (2-1) in the other. Nor Cal is looking for its second straight division championship after winning the Cayuga bracket last year.
The Cayuga Division has seven teams and there is no bracket play in this bracket. Each team will play six games. Washington State (4-0) and Indiana/Kentucky (3-0) have jumped out to the early lead in the division. They will play each other at 1 p.m. tomorrow.
In the Seniors' Only Division, the Orange team, made up primarily of players from New York, leads the Patterson Pool with a 2-0 mark. In the Cranbarry Pool, the Forest team, featuring players from Maryland and Virginia is off to a 2-0 start.
The tournament wraps up on Sunday with the championship game in the Onondaga Division slated for 2 p.m.
