Girls Lacrosse: Cougars Figure Out Warhawks

In the days prior to a semifinal clash with the reigning state champion Madison Warhawks, Oakton girls lacrosse coach Jean Counts tried to convince her players that 2012 was a different year for both teams, and that a pair of nine goal losses in the 2011 region and state title games had no bearing on what Thursday's result would be.

The Cougars took heed, avenging last year's losses with a 12-10 victory handing Madison its second loss in the last 15 months to advance to the Northern Region Championship.

After storms suspended action Wednesday, the Warhawks came out firing to score the first goal of the game. But the Cougars answered back with a goal from Carly Palmucci to start a back-and-forth that saw another goal from Palmucci and two from Kelsey Clarke — the first assisted by Palmucci — answer each of the Warhawks' first four goals.

The Warhawks then netted two straight to give them their largest lead, which the Cougars seized in the last 10 minutes of the first half as they outscored the Warhawks 5-1. Jackie Rupp tallied two goals in the spree, while Allison Turk, Clarke and Palmucci each added one of their own. Clarke and Palmucci tallied assists.

Despite losing draw afer draw at the start of the game, the Cougar defense racked up check steals and interceptions to suffocate the Warhawk offense — a strategy they have been focused on all week.

"We knew from the start that we needed to be like really, really tight on their cutters. It was like a really helping defense tonight, so when anyone was cutting we had the second and third slides there immediately. If someone was breaking in, someone was always there on the second and third slides. We were much more helping than we've been in the past," said Katie Scoggins, a sophomore defenseman.

Scoggins said the defense studied each Warhawk's style to help them anticipate their every move.

"We knew we had to beat Madison, and we focused in on specific players. Like we knew who we needed to solve right away. We knew who was going to go left immediately, so we were really ready," Scoggins said.

The Warhawks' leading scorer, Katie Kerrigan, was held to one goal. Sophomore Danielle Palmucci took the primary role in defending her for most of the game.

The Cougars were able to slow things down to play an even second half, each team scoring three goals for a final score of 12-10. Tori Anderson on a pass from Claire Stikeleather, Rupp and Revel on an assist from Clarke netted the last of the Cougars' goals.

"We didn't go into the game thinking it was revenge for last year. We tried to not think about them at all and stick to our number one goal, which is going to the state championship, so they were just a little bit of a block on the way. I mean, it feels good afterward, obviously," Rupp said.

Cougar goalkeeper Emily George had five saves. George, who was snubbed from All-Region consideration, held the Warhawks to their lowest offensive output since 2010.

"It feels amazing," George said. "I don't even know what to say. It's such a relief because this is our biggest opponent. From now on it's going to be a piece of cake."

While that may be a bold statement considering the Cougars' next opponent, Langley, is the only other team to beat Madison this year, George's play against the Saxons in an early season meeting may back up the claim. George held Langley to its lowest scoring total (10) until the Saxons' 7-6 win over Centreville in the Northern Region semifinals on Thursday. 

The Cougars will host tonight's championship game against Langley, which begins at 6 p.m.

A Northern Region Championship win would give Oakton home-field advantage in the first round of the state tournament, which starts June 2. The Cougars can win their first regional title since claiming two in a row in 2007 and 2008, and will be looking to bring home their first state championship since winning three straight from 2006 to 2008.