Battlefield girls lacrosse captures region title

Making critical adjustments after a back-and-forth first half, Battlefield led wire-to-wire in the second half en route to a 14-11 win over Colgan in the Class 6 Region B girls lacrosse final in Haymarket on Tuesday.

Taking an early 5-3 lead after opening the scoring, the Bobcats (16-1) allowed three unanswered goals in a four-minute, 42-second span late in the first half. The last one from Sharks senior attacker and future George Mason Patriot Daniella Jimenez prompted a timeout from Battlefield coach Mary Kugler with just under four minutes left.

Kyra Moran’s tally with 24 seconds remaining in the half gave the Bobcats an 8-7 lead at intermission; a 13-12 shot advantage and five crucial saves from . Amanda Gelfound helped to provide for the narrow margin.

"I think they made the adjustments that we told them to make and they listen to what we're telling them to do," Kugler said of the quicker slides and faster recovery in picking up cutting attackers that held Colgan to four goals in the second half.

Battlefield reeled off three straight after the break, before the Sharks answered with a trio of their own to make it 11-10 with 9:13 to go. Caileigh McQuillan’s second goal of the game with just over eight minutes left put Battlefield up by two, and sophomore Averie Cage’s ground ball in the Bobcats’ defensive half with two minutes remaining allowed the Bobcats to play keep-away and run out the clock.

“They came out here wanting to win, and it showed with how they played,” Colgan co-head coach Tessa Davis said of her team’s comprehensive 50-minute effort, calling Battlefield likely the most difficult test the Sharks have had to face thus far. “They really showed and proved [to] themselves that they can compete.”

Addy Curtis led Battlefield with four ground balls. Jimenez and Megan Martini had a game-high five goals each; both Moran and Kendra Harris had three for the Bobcats.

Battlefield will host Ocean Lakes in the state quarterfinal Friday; this is the first year in which schools from Virginia Beach or any school district in Hampton Roads have fielded varsity lacrosse teams. Colgan, meanwhile, enters the tournament needing just one road win against Cosby to set up a semifinal rematch with the Bobcats next week.

“We went into this knowing we couldn’t take [Colgan] lightly,” said Kugler. “We knew they wanted this as much as we did.”