Girls Lacrosse: Cougar Comeback Falls Short

Though Oakton High girls lacrosse team went on a 6-0 run at the end of the game, they fell one goal short of a comeback win against Concorde District foe Centreville on Friday.

The Wildcats took a wide lead to start the game, ending the first half up 8-2. Oakton's two goals came from Kelsey Clarke with an assist from Danielle Palmucci and a goal from Allison Turk on an assist from Carly Palmucci.

At halftime, the Cougars discussed the importance of winning the draw — a discussion Coach Jean Counts cut short.

"The draw is the core of the game, everyone knows that. But we weren't doing other things, like getting groundballs, playing strong defense and doing what we needed to do on offense," Coach Jean Counts said.

The Wildcats again began the scoring in the second half, knocking in two before Carly Palmucci scored on a fast break after nabbing the ball in the draw to shift the momentum in the Cougars' favor for the rest of the game.

As the Wildcats scored four goals intermittently over the next 10 minutes, the Cougars matched each of their goals with scoring from Alex Revel, Turk on an assist from Palmucci, and Palmucci.

After the Wildcats scored their 14th and final goal with about 13 minutes left on the clock, the Cougars took offensive control to go on a six-goal run — with points from Jackie Rupp, Nicole Banville, Clarke and Claire Stikeleather — to come within one goal of tying. 

"We started winning the draw and then our offense went back to normal in the second half. The first half they were just kind of frozen," Counts said.

But the Cougars were unable to maintain possession in the last two minutes of the game, finishing at the losing end of the 14-13 final score.

The Cougars will travel to Chantilly for a 7:15 p.m. game Friday.