Girls' Lacrosse advances in playoffs

BLAZER STADIUM, MAY 6—

In an exciting post-season opener, the Blair girls' lacrosse team, 5-7 in the regular season, demolished the Paint Branch Panthers to advance to the second round of playoffs for the first time in two years. The Blazers will face the Blake Bengals this Saturday.

The Blazers took the lead with the first goal of the game when junior Helen Anderson scored off an assist from senior captain Devon Madison. Soon after, sophomore Susie Branson sprinted downfield and passed to senior Elena Talbott, who scored to increase Blair's lead to 2-0. The Panthers responded with two goals of their own, but goals from Branson, Anderson, Talbott and senior captain Dana Ballard made the score 6-4 by the end of the first half.

In the second half, Blair took off in a merciless onslaught against Northwest's defense. Branson scored another three goals in the second half, with additional goals by Talbott, junior Rachita Sood, Anderson, Ballard and Madison. Throughout the second half, the Blazers kept the ball downfield and kept control of the game. Blair's defense prevented the Panthers from scoring many goals, with several outstanding saves by sophomore goalie Katelyn Luker, only allowing four goals during the second half while Blair scored eight.

After making the score 14-5, Blair benched many of its starters, giving other teammates an opportunity to play, but also helping Northwest rebound slightly with three goals near the end of the game. The Blazers ended the game victorious, 14-8.

"We're all pretty excited. We were expecting a really close game, so it was nice to roll over them," said senior captain Karla Berberich. "It was a nice ending for our last game at Blazer Stadium. If we play perfectly, maybe we can beat Blake. We're a different team then when we played Blake last time."