Bulldogs Earn Place In the Sun

Team Takes District, Looks to Regionals

By Jeff Nelson

Saturday, May 10, 2008

For years, the Virginia AAA Liberty District girls’ lacrosse tournament was a two-team show.

Not anymore.

In its third season since moving up from the AA Dulles District, Stone Bridge claimed its first Liberty title on Friday night with a 14-11 win over W.T. Woodson at Madison High School.

“It means everything, especially [to win] this district,” said Bulldogs sophomore Lauren Giusti, who scored eight goals and added three assists on a record-setting night. “It’s such a hard district. I just never thought we’d be able to beat these tough teams.”

Either Woodson or Langley has long been the tournament’s No. 1 seed, but Stone Bridge earned that spot with a perfect march through the district’s regular-season schedule, which featured mostly blowouts.

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Bridge defeats Woodson 14-11

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Stone Bridge defeats Woodson 14-11 to win the girls lacrosse Liberty district championship in Vienna on May 9, 2008. (John McDonnell)

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Stone Bridge celebrates after defeating Woodson 14-11 to win the girls lacrosse Liberty district championship. (John McDonnell)

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Stone Bridge's Kelley Galownia walks off the field with the trophy. (John McDonnell)

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Stone Bridge's Holly Kramer, left, gathers the ball in front of Woodson's Shelly Montgomery. (John McDonnell)

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Stone Bridge's Meghan DeMartino vies for the ball against Woodson's Sarah Vinall. (John McDonnell)

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Stone Bridge's Meghan DeMartino advances on Woodson's Becca Geist. (John McDonnell)

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The one close call came against Woodson — a 12-11 Bulldogs triumph — and the Cavaliers made it tough again on Friday.

After Woodson scored the opening goal, Giusti scored four of the game’s next five to help stake her team to a 5-2 lead.

The Bulldogs still had a three-goal cushion at 7-4 with seven minutes remaining in the half, but then the Cavaliers got hot.

Woodson scored four straight goals to take an 8-7 lead, and Stone Bridge needed a nice shot from junior Amy Rollins to draw even just before halftime.

When the Cavaliers came out and scored quickly to start the second half, the Bulldogs regrouped and realized there was plenty of time.

“One of my coaches that I play for year-round always says, ‘Only get nervous if there’s as [many minutes] as goals you are behind,’ ” Giusti said. “So I’m thinking, ‘We’re only one back and we came back after being down one at the beginning, so stay focused and I know we’ll come back.’ ”

Giusti promptly scored the tying and go-ahead goals on her way to setting the Stone Bridge single-season record for goals (66) and career record for assists (42).

Stone Bridge kept the momentum with goals from senior Kristen Pascale and Rollins, and Giusti added two more to put the Bulldogs up by five.

“We have a lot of young talent and a bunch of us have played on varsity for a really long time,” senior Meghan DeMartino said. “So I think the experience finally helped us, and obviously Lauren Giusti and Rachael Pascale and a lot of our sophomores stepped up.”

The Bulldogs also credited their first title to the addition of their first-year coach, Kristin Howard.

“She had different drills we didn’t know about that helped us run and helped us with our stick skills,” said Rollins, who had three goals Friday. “And if we had an issue during the game, she’d have a play for us to work on and she’d find a way to help us.”

Howard, who had never played or coached lacrosse before this season, said she was thrilled by this immediate success. But with the opening round of the Northern Region tournament starting Tuesday, she does not want this season to be remembered solely for a district title.

“Within about a half-hour of this game, it will be behind us,” she said Friday. “We’ve never won a region game, so now, the biggest game that was five minutes ago, it’s now our next game.”

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