The Birmingham Women’s Lacrosse team quickly descended upon the Farmington Falcons, scoring four goals in the first five minutes of play.
After dominating the early game with the intensity coach Jen Dunbar hoped for, the Lady Bulldogs let in their first goal with just over 11 minutes left in the first half.
“[The intensity was] much better than last game on Sunday [April 18],” Dunbar said.
This intensity was kept up through halftime, where girls had an 8-2 lead, all the way to the end of the game: a 13-6 victory, in which everyone played.
“We got everyone in today,” Dunbar said. “Everyone in, and we even pulled up two from JV and one of our JV players that just came up got two goals. So we’ve got a lot of young players making significant contributions.”
April 24, Seaholm was host to the East vs. West Lacrosse Challenge, a round-robin tournament that pitted three teams from the East side of the State (Marian, BWLAX, and Sacred Heart) against three from the West (Okemos, Rockford, and South Lyon).
“All five teams we are going to go look at- Marian, Sacred Heart,” Dunbar said. “And we will probably face South Lyon, Rockford in the State Tournament also.”
It wasn’t just the coaches that got in on the scouting but the players as well.
“In the press box you do get a good view of what is going on,” senior Sarah Norris said. “I would definitely love to try a give and go play that we saw Okemos, and maybe Marian did one as well and hopefully try to integrate that into our system.”
Before they could start scouting the Lady Bulldogs came out flat in their first game against the Okemos High School Chiefs- an 11-2 loss.
“It was a little rough the first game. We had to play out of being sick and tired,” senior captain and goalie Calla Glavin said.
They had a shot at redemption later in the day against the South Lyon Lions. It seemed that all the girls needed was a little bit of time, and some physical play, to wake up.
A minute after scoring a goal to give the Lady Bulldogs a 3-2 lead, senior Kate Murray was awarded a yellow card, and a two-minute penalty, for checking her opponent. This play inspired her teammates to take a 4-3 lead into the half.
As the physical play continued, goals by junior Carly Signorello and sophomore Caroline Quigley helped guide the Lady Bulldogs to a 7-5 victory.
“I’m happy that we picked up our play against South Lyon as opposed to Okemos,” Dunbar said. “and we even came out stronger in the second half against Okemos than we did in the first.”
There were still things that the team needed to improve on if they wanted to win their next game against the Rams of Rockford High School.
“The change for the third game is just communication between everyone,” Norris said. “Calling out who do you have, if you’re ready to slide and help a girl who’s on the ball.”
After a long and cold day, the Lady Bulldogs played a close game, only to lose 8-6 to Rockford.
The Lady Bulldogs continue regular season play April 28 against the Academy of Sacred Heart.
