LIONS EXTEND REIGN

STEVENSVILLE — The thought was to pull the ball out, burn some clock, and perhaps go for the last shot.

Then Baillie Pinder found herself alone in front of the net with the ball.

“Baillie’s a see net, shoot net,” Queen Anne’s County High girls head lacrosse coach Kesley Fitzgerald said. “And she put one up for us. That was an awesome play.”

Pinder found the back of the net for what proved to me the winning goal with 3:08 remaining, then watched goalie Maddie George and her defense survive three shots in a frenetic final 20 seconds Monday, as the Lions held on for a 7-6 victory over Stephen Decatur and their third straight Bayside Conference championship at Kent Island High’s Andy Schipul Stadium.

“It feels so good to win, especially after losing the first time,” Pinder said of Queen Anne’s 10-7 loss at Decatur on April 16. “This time I think we knew we were a better team, and we had changed since the beginning of the season. And we had a lot more confidence in ourselves, and we really just wanted to come out and prove ourselves.”

But Decatur senior Sadie Kauffman (four goals) scored to break a 4-4 tie with 8:27 left in the third quarter, then converted a Lions turnover into a 6-4 Seahawks lead less than 3 minutes later.

That would prove to be Decatur’s final goal though.

“Stephen Decatur did an amazing job,” Fitzgerald said. “We just needed to execute on our possessions a little bit better and show a little bit more patience. But they always make it happen. I trust them. We’re in those huddles and they’re giving feedback on what needs to happen on the draw and they’re the ones out there.”

Among those out there was junior standout RJ Ensor (four goals, assist), who pulled the Lions (11-2) within 6-5 with 2:26 left in the third, when she scored on a free-position opportunity.

The Lions pulled even at 6-all with 5:44 left, as Ensor took a feed from Pinder (two goals, three assists) and deposited an overhand shot past Decatur goalie Addison McDaniel.

Kauffman won the ensuing draw, but the Seahawks turned the ball over with 4 minutes remaining.

“We were calling to pull it out and take a little bit more time off, and maybe work for last shot. And she finds herself right on top of the goal,” Fitzgerald said of Pinder.

Pinder didn’t miss, dumping a shot past McDaniel for a 7-6 Lions lead.

“We knew that we could come back,” Pinder said. “We just had to play patient and smart, and we knew we had it.

“I knew I had to take my time and put it in the net,” Pinder said of her game-winner. “I knew I was on top of the goal and knew I had to do it and make it.”

Decatur called time and appeared to win the ensuing draw. But the Seahawks were called for an apparent empty-stick check, that initially appeared to be against the Lions.

“I don’t understand what it was,” Decatur head coach Lindsay Owens said. “I definitely thought it was an empty-stick check on Queen Anne’s because Sadie’s stick went flying. And he (the official) was pointing our way too.

“But here’s the thing,” Owens continued. “We shouldn’t have left it up to the ref’s call. It shouldn’t come down to whether a ref makes a call or not. I can never blame a ref on a game. That’s the easy way out. And we had every opportunity to try and seal the deal.”

The Seahawks had three chances to at least tie the deal in the final 20.6 seconds. Caitlin Shimko fired high on a free-position attempt. Jillian Burton got the ball and sent a shot wide left. Kennedy Kirby managed to get off one final shot that George got to and covered to secure the win.

“I’m not going to lie, I was nervous,” George said. “But I was keeping it composed. I was just telling myself, ‘We got this. We got this.’ We’ve worked so hard for this and it’s all paying off.

Decatur took a 1-0 lead on Ava Konyar’s goal less than 3 minutes into the game. Queen Anne’s tied it on Ensor’s first goal with under 7 minutes to play in the first quarter. McDaniel made a huge point-blank stop on Pinder. But the Lions’ senior attacker retrieved the ball and tucked a shot into the back of the net for a 2-1 lead with 5:05 left in the opening period.

Kauffman tied the game at 2-2 on a free-position chance 2:11 into the second. Riley Klepper pushed the Lions back in front less than a minute later. Kirby forged the game’s third tie with 3:29 left in the first half. Ensor scored a free-position goal with 43.1 seconds to go in the half. Kauffman won the following draw, raced downfield, and after a few stick fakes put a sinker past George for a 4-4 halftime tie.

But the Lions goalie and her defense shut out the Seahawks over the game’s final 17:50, including the chaotic final 20 seconds.

“That’s Maddie George,” Fitzgerald said. “She comes out and that’s her style of play. We forced a lot of girls to shoot the high shot and were on their sticks all night. Maddie at that point, when she’s in situations like that, she’s locked in and just doing anything she can. It might not be the most soundest thing but she’s making sure that ball does not go by her body.”