Girls lacrosse: Carmel sneaks past Palatine
The difference between a Corsair and a Pirate?
"They use different swords, maybe?" Palatine girls lacrosse coach Oscar Flores guessed after his Pirates battled Carmel Catholic's visiting Corsairs on land Friday night.
The correct answer, based only on what transpired on turf: not much.
A mere 1 goal, to be exact. Carmel edged Palatine 10-9 in a highly competitive, back-and-forth contest in crisp conditions.
Marie Giambrone scored the clincher with only 15 seconds left, five minutes after Palatine had tied it at 9 on senior middie Julie Garcia's fourth goal of the game.
Giambrone surveyed the Pirates' defensive scheme from about 10 yards out before bolting and weaving through fairly heavy traffic. She then whipped a shot past Palatine's second goalie of the night, senior Caitlin Quinn, who had made a couple of clutch saves - 13 seconds apart - shortly after a Carmel timeout at 1:53.
"Patience," Corsairs senior attack and Rockhurst (Mo.) University-bound Reagan Danner said. "Marie waited patiently for the moment to make her move.
"This game was about wanting it," she added. "We wanted the win, badly. I love my team."
Danner and two Pirates (Garcia and senior attack/middie Mackenzie Lindell) each scored 4 goals in the nonconference clash. Lindell struck for her club's first 2 tallies and poured in the other 2 in the second half. Garcia's penultimate goal, off a nifty pass from sophomore middie Megan Kim, gave the hosts an 8-7 advantage at the 8:09 mark of the second half.
Danner knotted it at 8 with a goal from the free position 15 seconds later.
"Tonight was a 'heart' game, definitely," Corsairs coach Christina Amato said after her crew, which led 4-3 at the break, improved to 4-2.
Palatine (1-3) was coming off an impressive 21-1 defeat of McHenry on Wednesday. Flores' squad includes six Pirates who hadn't played a second of competitive lacrosse before this spring.
"We played a strong, aggressive game tonight," Flores said. "We're learning. We're adjusting."
Carmel received 2 goals apiece from Mara Geier and Hannah Lennon. Megan Spanswick bounced a free-position tally past starting goalie Becca Lassen with 8 minutes left in the first 25-minute half.
The winning goalie was Megan Bauer.
Junior attack/middie Jane Spencer struck for Palatine's fourth goal early in the second half.
"We're picking it up, getting good efforts from a young team," Amato said. "There's a lot of learning to do, and we've been doing a good job of that."
Giambrone's game-winner?
Textbook.
"Marie," Amato said, "pulled the defense out and then attacked at the perfect moment."