SILVER SPRING — Is the fourth time really the charm? Fallston girls lacrosse is about to find out.
The Cougars, Class 1A runners-up in each of the past three years, earned a return trip to the state title game with a 15-7 victory over Perryville on Friday in a 1A state semifinal at Wheaton High.
Fallston will face either Southern or Middletown at Stevenson University’s Mustang Stadium at a day and time to be announced.
“The group that we have is not just strong fundamentally, they are strong mentally,” Fallston coach Maddie Palko said. “They’ve got team chemistry that is solid and I think that is hopefully help us with our outcome.”
The Fallston seniors have made that trip three times, and each time fell shot. But you can see in the determined eyes of players such as Delaney O’Mailey, Ava Lambros or Ayla Galloway that they believe that this team is too good and this class is too talented to leave a legacy of so close, yet so far.
“All the years past we’ve been building up to this point,” O’Mailey said. “We have a really good group of girls and everyone really wants it. I can feel that this year with our energy.”
Every tough practice, every challenging game has set up the Cougars seniors in a spot where they’re battle-tested headed into the final game of their high school careers.
“We’ve honestly worked our entire season up for this moment,” Lambros added. “Starting even last game being tied and scoring to make it 8-7, we’ve given everything to be here, playing harder teams and losing tough games, but that honestly made us better and we’re in the best position we’ve ever been for a state championship game.”
While their 8-7 quarterfinal victory over South Carroll was a showcase of their never-say-die spirit, Friday’s win over the Panthers was evidence of the pure talent Fallston possesses that can simply overwhelm opponents.
O’Mailey scored her first two goals before many had a chance to take their seats, coming in a 1:11 span. Sydney Grafton followed to make it 3-0 not even four minutes into the game.
“We wanted to come out hard. We wanted to play Fallston lacrosse start to finish,” Palko said. “We were able to capitalize on some 50-50 balls and we were able to get some really good shots and we’re really happy with the outcome.”
But even that spurt carried a message.
“It set the tone that we’re here, we’re ready, we really want this to be our year,” O’Mailey said.
Lambros added two goals, Galloway chipped in one and it was 6-1 by the end of the first quarter.
Meanwhile, the defense played what O’Mailey called “probably our best game on defense this year.” Erin-Kate Roeder made 10 stops in goal, and several caused turnovers and ground balls quickly became scoring opportunities.
“They’ve been doing really well, jelling a ton,” Palko said of the defense. “EK did huge back there for us, had a lot of really good stops.”
Lambros led the win with five goals. Her fifth, which came in the third quarter, was also the 200th of her career.
“I knew I was close but I didn’t really know how far — well yeah I guess I did know how far — but I wasn’t really thinking about it,” Lambros said. “It was a really nice moment to share with the team, because I couldn’t have done this without them.”
Fallston’s lead grew to 13-3 midway through the third quarter, triggering the running clock. Perryville struck back for a few fourth-quarter goals, but all eyes on that point were already on the championship.
“We’re ready to win,” Lambros said. “We’re ready to give it our all. We’ve worked so hard and we’re not going to give it up for the fourth time. We’re ready.”
Fallston — 6 2 5 2 — 15
Perryville — 1 1 2 3 — 7
GOALS: F — Ava Lambros 5, Delaney O’Mailey 3, Sydney Grafton 2, Elise Buckler 2, Ayla Galloway 1, Laurel Haun 1, Camryn Dauphinais 1. P — Sarah Murrell 5, Sarah Kilby 1, Macy Forrest. ASSISTS: F — Sydney Grafton 3, Delaney O’Mailey 2, Olivia Parker 2, Ayla Galloway 1. SAVES: F — Erin-Kate Roeder 10. P — Samantha Peterson 6
