The Catawba Ridge girls’ lacrosse came up short on a fourth quarter rally against the Ardrey Kell Knights.
The Copperheads fell 13-11 dropping to 2-3 overall on the season. Catawba Ridge is still early in the season with just five matches under their belt, but has already been bit by the injury bug.
“The turnovers in the midfield hurt,” said Catawba Ridge head coach Pat Gormley. “We are young. We make mistakes and we aren’t learning from them fast enough. Once we start clicking more, the transition will be better and we will have more shots.
“The injury bug early hurt us. We are getting back from it, so hopefully we will start to gel more and be better prepared for games.”
Neither team was able to establish any sort of flow or dominance early in the first quarter as they traded goals back-and-forth through the first six points. Catawba Ridge had goals from Paige and Carleigh Conroy, as well as Julia McKnight and Colette Boyer. That was all the Copperheads could muster in the first quarter as Ardrey Kell scored twice more before the end of the quarter.
Carleigh Conroy scored her second goal of the match to open the second quarter for Catawba Ridge.
Ardrey Kell came back with two consecutive goals and was able to control possession for most of the second quarter, aided by winning face-offs. The Knights would take an 8-5 lead at the half.
Ardrey Kell added a ninth goal two minutes into the second half. Katie Bakely scored a goal for the Copperheads about midway through the third quarter pulling Catawba Ridge to within three. Despite the small rally, Ardrey Kell scored twice more before the end of the third quarter to go up 11-6.
In the fourth quarter, McKnight added her second goal of the match for the Copperheads less than a minute into the period. Then less than midway through the fourth quarter, Paige Conroy would score her second and McKnight would get a hat trick as Catawba Ridge pulled within three goals with less than five minutes remaining.
Carleigh Conroy scored her third goal of the match with two minutes remaining to keep the rally alive for the Copperheads. She has 99 career goals and will be the third girls’ lacrosse player to score 100 goals with her next goal. Her sister, Paige, scored her 100th career goal earlier this season against Indian Land.
The two teams would each score one more goal before the final buzzer as McKnight would pick up her fourth goal of the match before the end.
March 19 Roundup
The Fort Mill boys’ golf team beat Catawba Ridge at the Tega Cay Golf Club 153-159. Fort Mill was led by a one under par 35 from Baker Tolentino. Morgan Bayko shot a 37 and Brody Blackwell finished with a 40 and Nick Harper with a 41. The Copperheads were led by a 37 from Roman Vasicko and a 40 from Niam Sethi. Muller Otto and Ryan Gluff each shot a 41.
The Nation Ford boys’ golf team beat Indian Land 142-168 at Edgewater Golf Club. Conner Mills and Stephen Deaton each led with a two-under par 34, while Carter Smith shot an even par 36. Alex Bodel finished with a 38 for Nation Ford.
The Catawba Ridge softball team beat Northwestern 9-3 on the road. Mia Kovacs and BG Yates each had two hits and two RBIs. Taylan Sistare had three hits to lead the Copperheads, which improved to 8-6 overall and 2-0 in Region 3-5A.
The Nation Ford softball team beat York 12-2 in five innings to improve to 8-3 overall on the season. Tori Baldino went 3-3 with three RBIs to lead the Falcons.
The Nation Ford girls’ soccer team beat Rock Hill 6-0 on the road to improve to 7-1 on the season and 3-0 in Region 3-5A.
The Nation Ford baseball team scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh for a walk off win on an Alex Smith double to give the Falcons a 6-5 win over Cardinal Newman. Smith, Jacob Neff, Noah Layton, and Grey Kneidel each had two hits in the game as Nation Ford improved to 8-2 on the season.
The Fort Mill baseball team lost to Clover 9-4 in game two of their series, which is tied at one game apiece. Fort Mill fell to 3-5 overall and 2-3 in Region 3-5A.
The Fort Mill boys’ tennis team blanked Catawba Ridge 6-0. Winning for the Jackets was Liam Merriott 6-4, 6-1; Lucas Coelho 6-1, 6-3; Jethin Bastin 6-2, 6-1; Ishaan Amjath 6-2, 6-4; Sawyer Bryan 6-1, 6-1; and in doubles Jackson Bradley and Brandon Behrmann 6-0, 6-2. Fort Mill is now 6-1 on the season, while Catawba Ridge fell to 5-4 overall.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
