(April 17, 2015) After leading by just two goals at halftime Wednesday, the Stephen Decatur Seahawks settled down and played “their game” in the second half, outscoring the Kent County girls’ lacrosse team 9-1 to win 13-3.
Sophomore Lexie VanKirk put Decatur on the board three and a half minutes into the match in Berlin. Kent County evened the score with 11:50 remaining in the first half.
Senior Payton VanKirk gave the Seahawks the go-ahead goal at the 10:37 mark.
The Trojans tied it up four minutes later.
Sophomore Claire Porter provided the home team with a 3-2 lead with 3:49 to play in the half. Victoria Kerkovich, a sophomore, boosted Decatur’s advantage to 4-2, 31 seconds before the halftime break.
In the first half, Decatur Coach Bob Musitano said the Seahawks “actually were playing too intense. They’re forcing the crease, they’re swinging a little bit and they’re trying too hard. Once they got settled down they seemed to be able to overtake them.”
“They played well on defense, good transition, but then they’d blow it down [on the offensive end], try and force the crease then the ball would come right back,” he said. “We don’t have that many subs. We were kind of running ourselves to death at times.”
Musitano said some of the Seahawks’ plays didn’t work against Kent County’s defense.
“They played tight inside, so we had to draw them out,” he said. “We had to spread it out to have more room to work.”
Senior captain Ally Beck carried the ball the length of the field and scored a minute and a half into the second half. Lexie and Payton VanKirk netted shots to increase the Seahawks’ lead to 7-2.
Sophomore Christina Romano found Porter, who was open in front of the goal, and she put the ball in the back of the cage with 11:11 remaining in the game.
Kent County tallied its third and final goal less than a minute later.
Payton VanKirk passed to an open Kerkovich who provided Decatur with a six-goal advantage. Junior Elle Bargar made it 10-3 with 4:52 on the clock.
Lexie VanKirk logged the Seahawks’ 11th goal at the 3:51 mark.
Senior Jordan Klebe scored with 15 seconds left in the match and Porter earned a hat trick with five seconds remaining.
“They didn’t know much about them. We don’t see them very often … no matter what, they’ve always played us tough,” Musitano said. “[The Seahawks] rose to the occasion. We finally were just able to keep playing our game.”
Lexie VanKirk and Porter (two assists) both finished the game with three goals apiece. Payton VanKirk contributed with two goals and two assists. Kerkovich also logged two goals.
Beck, Bargar (two assists) and Klebe scored one goal each. Senior co-captain, goalie Jillian Petito, stopped 10 Kent County shots.
Decatur is scheduled to take a trip to Centreville today, Friday, to face the Queen Anne’s Lions at 5:30 p.m.
“Those kids are really tough up there, but we’ve got kids that can play with them,” Musitano said. “We can’t make any mistakes. No mistakes at all. All of the ground balls have to be ours and on defense we have to mark up correctly.”
The Cape Henlopen Vikings are set to come to Berlin on Monday for a 5:30 p.m. competition against Decatur.
