Patriot rally falls just short

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The Olentangy Liberty girls lacrosse team has played New Albany — the defending Division I state runner-up — just about as well as anyone over the course of the last two seasons.

The second-seeded Patriots did it again in Wednesday’s regional final, at least in the second half, but a slow start proved too much to overcome as the top-seeded and host Eagles held on for a 14-11 win.

Prior to the regional final, the teams had met three times over the course of the last two seasons, with New Albany winning all three, including a 10-9 thriller earlier this month in Powell. The wins came by a combined five goals, though, so they’ve all been close.

Wednesday’s showdown certainly didn’t start that way, with the Eagles finding the back of the net three times in the final 1:06 of the first half to take a commanding 9-3 lead by the break.

Already up 7-3, Faith Johnson and Mary Carson scored back-to-back tallies to balloon New Albany’s edge to six. Johnson made it 8-3 with :21 seconds left in the half before Carson scored with just two seconds to play.

Abby Cole scored less than two minutes into the second half to push the lead to 10-3, but Liberty found its form after that, doubling up New Albany 8-4 the rest of the way.

Kate McDonnell stopped the bleeding for the Patriots, scoring with 21:10 to play, but the Eagles scored the next three to take what seemed to be a convincing 13-4 advantage.

Liberty, though, didn’t go down without a fight. Meghan Haddow slipped one past New Albany keeper Annika Duncan from a tight angle with 15:32 left, Lexi Bird found the back of the net a little over a minute later and, after the Eagles’ Cassidy Clapham scored to make it a 14-6 game with 8:16 left, Liberty finished with a flurry.

The Patriots outscored the Eagles 5-0 over the last eight-plus minutes, getting two goals from Isabelle Pohmer, two from Makena Harrington and another from Bird, but the rally simply ran out of time as the Eagles held on to secure a spot in their fourth straight state final four.

BOYS VOLLEYBALL

Noah Koknat had a team-high 13 kills, Connor Severson added 25 assists and Jack Sullenberger had 17 digs to lead top-seeded Olentangy Liberty to a solid three-set win over visiting Gahanna Lincoln in a Division I regional semifinal Wednesday night in Powell.

The Patriots won the first set 25-9 before sealing the deal with wins of 25-11 and 25-8 in the second and third, respectively.

Also: DeSales def. Olentangy Berlin 27-25, 25-20, 25-22.

Olentangy Liberty’s Meghan Haddow (11) and Makena Harrington (4) battle for draw control against New Albany’s Madison Paz during Wednesday’s Division I regional final in New Albany.
https://www.delgazette.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2022/05/web1_scrum.jpgOlentangy Liberty’s Meghan Haddow (11) and Makena Harrington (4) battle for draw control against New Albany’s Madison Paz during Wednesday’s Division I regional final in New Albany. Ben Stroup | The Gazette
Eagles hang on to win regional final, 14-11

By Ben Stroup

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