Lacrosse Magazine's annual season-end high school top 25 boys' and girls' lacrosse rankings appear below and in greater detail -- including regional top 10s -- in the August issue mailing to US Lacrosse members this week. Don't get the mag? Join USL today to start your subscription.
Undefeated, Undisputed Eagles Soar to No. 1
by Nelson Coffin | Special to Lacrosse Magazine Online
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Georgetown-bound Hannah Franklin helped McDonogh (Md.) to the nation's No. 1 ranking in Lacrosse Magazine's Top 25. © John Strohsacker/LaxPhotos.com |
In early April, when many teams begin to get a feel for how they might stack up against some of the tougher foes in their area, Roland Park Country (Md.) discovered the truth about Lacrosse Magazine’s eventual No. 1 team for 2010 — McDonogh (Md.).
The Reds, who scored an average of nearly 16 goals per game, were hardly pushovers, finishing the season with a respectable 14-7 record.
Yet that day, just like they had for virtually all of last spring, the Eagles brandished a take-no-prisioners attitude that made the outcome a moot point after just 10 minutes of furious action.
McDonogh scored the game’s first eight goals — by seven different players — to run away with a 20-9 victory for their sixth win of what would become a brilliant 20-0 campaign.
As it turned out, the Eagles would have a few more of those dazzling moments in them, including a near-repeat performance six weeks later in the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference title game, a 17-8 rout of Notre Dame Prep.
McDonogh put the hammer down early again against the Blazers, opening with a withering 7-0 opening salvo on just nine shots.
In addition to those signature victories, the Eagles handed Maryland Class 2A-1A champion Winters Mill its only setback, 15-5, and roughed up D.C. power Good Counsel, 20-9.
In fact, the only team to hold McDonogh, which averaged a 10-goal differential against its rivals, to less than 10 goals was John Carroll (Md.)
No wonder opponents are already wary of similar encounters in 2011, knowing Eagle offensive stars Taylor Cummings, Samantha Burgess, Jen Cook, Brooks Lawler, Corrine Etchison and Mallory Schonk will return next spring. And tough goalie Katie Ferraro will be back to anchor the defense.
“They tend to inspire fear in their opponents,” Roland Park coach Kristin Nicolini said. “When they break teams down early like that, it makes it difficult to come back on them. They have a deep bench and fresh legs, and we don’t have that.”
McDonogh coach Chris Robinson breathed a sigh of relief after NDP was dispatched and another title claimed.
“The pressure of being No. 1 from the beginning of the year was always there,” Robinson said. “And to play like we did at the end of the year was amazing. We knew we’d have to give up some individual goals to play as a team to do that.”
LACROSSE MAGAZINE'S NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS' TOP 25 RANKINGS
1. McDonogh (Md.)
2. Garden City (N.Y.)
3. Radnor (Pa.)
4. Winters Mill (Md.)
5. Ridgewood (N.J.)
6. Moorestown (N.J.)
7. South River (Md.)
8. Vero Beach (Fla.)
9. Shoreham-Wading River (N.Y.)
10. Canandaigua Academy (N.Y.)
11. Rocky Point (N.Y.)
12. St. Anthony's (N.Y.)
13. Severna Park (Md.)
14. Good Counsel (Md.)
15. Farmingdale (N.Y.)
16. Mendham (N.J.)
17. Framingham (Mass.)
18. Lakeland-Panas (N.Y.)
19. West Genesee (N.Y.)
20. Cherry Creek (Colo.)
21. Loyola Academy (Ill.)
22. Medina (Ohio)
23. Monte Vista (Calif.)
24. Los Alamitos (Calif.)
25. Westwood (Mass.)
