Northern High School sophomore Maddie Matthews heads up field in the first half of Tuesday's Southern Maryland Athletic Conference game against Leonardtown. Matthews led the Patriots with eight goals and Northern coasted to a 20-6 victory over the visiting Raiders on Tuesday.
Northern High School senior Mackenzie Blackwell fires a shot on goal in the first half of Tuesday’s Southern Maryland Athletic Conference game against Leonardtown. Blackwell scored five goals and the Patriots coasted to a 20-6 victory over the Raiders on Tuesday.
Northern High School senior Presleigh Vagnier fires a shot on goal in the first half of Tuesday's SMAC girls lacrosse game against Leonardtown. Vagnier and the Patriots gained the upper hand early and coasted to a 20-6 victory over the visiting Raiders on Tuesday.
Northern High School senior Mackenzie Blackwell keeps a close eye on Leonardtown junior Kenzie Island in the second half of Tuesday's SMAC girls' lacrosse game. Blackwell scored five times for the Patriots while Island scored twice for the Raiders as Northern coasted to a 20-6 victory on Tuesday.
Northern High School sophomore Maddie Matthews stands at the top of the circle between Leonardtown defenders Julia Mattingly, left, and Promise Morgan, in the first half of Tuesday’s game. Matthews scored eight goals to lead the Patriots to a 20-6 victory over the visiting Raiders in Tuesday’s SMAC clash.
The scoreboard on the west end of the field at Northern High School tells the story as the Patriots’ girls lacrosse team upended visiting Leonardtown 20-6 on Tuesday evening.
Northern High School sophomore Maddie Matthews heads up field in the first half of Tuesday's Southern Maryland Athletic Conference game against Leonardtown. Matthews led the Patriots with eight goals and Northern coasted to a 20-6 victory over the visiting Raiders on Tuesday.
Staff photo by Ted Black
Northern High School senior Mackenzie Blackwell fires a shot on goal in the first half of Tuesday’s Southern Maryland Athletic Conference game against Leonardtown. Blackwell scored five goals and the Patriots coasted to a 20-6 victory over the Raiders on Tuesday.
Staff photo by Ted Black
Northern High School senior Presleigh Vagnier fires a shot on goal in the first half of Tuesday's SMAC girls lacrosse game against Leonardtown. Vagnier and the Patriots gained the upper hand early and coasted to a 20-6 victory over the visiting Raiders on Tuesday.
Staff photo by Ted Black
Northern High School senior Mackenzie Blackwell keeps a close eye on Leonardtown junior Kenzie Island in the second half of Tuesday's SMAC girls' lacrosse game. Blackwell scored five times for the Patriots while Island scored twice for the Raiders as Northern coasted to a 20-6 victory on Tuesday.
Staff photo by Ted Black
Northern High School sophomore Maddie Matthews stands at the top of the circle between Leonardtown defenders Julia Mattingly, left, and Promise Morgan, in the first half of Tuesday’s game. Matthews scored eight goals to lead the Patriots to a 20-6 victory over the visiting Raiders in Tuesday’s SMAC clash.
Staff photo by Ted Black
The scoreboard on the west end of the field at Northern High School tells the story as the Patriots’ girls lacrosse team upended visiting Leonardtown 20-6 on Tuesday evening.
In a contest that was widely expected to decide which Southern Maryland Athletic Conference girls lacrosse team is the best in the conference, the Northern High School squad left little doubt about its superiority in SMAC and budding 3A state title potential with a lopsided 20-6 victory over visiting Leonardtown High on Tuesday evening.
Northern scored early and often on Tuesday amid chilly, windy, overcast conditions that hardly could be described as springlike. Sophomore Maddie Matthews scored eight times and senior Mackenzie Blackwell added five more as the Patriots owned a commanding 13-3 advantage at the intermission, which meant the running clock would be invoked the entire second half.
“I thought we were a little sloppy offensively in the first half,” said Blackwell, an Eastern Michigan University recruit who departed the field three goals shy of 100 in her career. “But I thought we cleaned it up a lot in the second half. Most of all the execution was pretty good. We have a lot of younger girls who step up every day and play a key role in what we do.”
Blackwell was able to record the 100th goal of her career when she posted three goals in Wednesday’s 13-11 victory over Southern High School of Anne Arundel County.
In Tuesday’s game against Leonardtown, Blackwell’s first goal gave the Patriots a 2-0 lead less than three minutes into the contest, but Leonardtown’s Megan Gray countered to trim the deficit in half and perhaps give onlookers the impression the game would remain competitive. Northern, however, had other intentions as the Patriots responded with five unanswered goals, getting one more from Blackwell and three from Matthews.
Leonardtown junior Kenzie Island ended the initial Patriots’ run with her first goal to trim the gap to 7-2, but Northern responded with six more unanswered goals as Matthews accounted for four more and senior Presleigh Vagnier, a Limestone College commit, notched her second of the day to vault the Patriots to their halftime advantage.
“It wasn’t how we expected to play, but we faced some really good competition today,” said Island, who previously had scored the Raiders’ first goal on their new turf field in the season opener against Lackey. “But I thought we played with a lot of heart. We never gave up. We’ll have to come out on Friday [at Great Mills] and turn things around and show what we really can do.”
Leonardtown sophomore Julia Mattingly scored the game’s first goal at the start of the second half but Northern immediately countered with a goal each from Blackwell, Matthews and Annie Galarza. Blackwell scored two of her team’s final three goals, but was denied two others on shots that caromed off the left post. Galarza had the game’s most creative goal, a swift, behind-the-head shot that found the back of the net.
“We have a lot of really good seniors on this team, but we also have some really good underclassmen,” said Vagnier. “They’re going to be fun to watch the next couple of years. Our goals are still to win SMAC and win the region and get to states.”
