By Gabriel Ouzounian
Review Staff Writer
The Lake Orion Girls? Varsity Lacrosse team fell to Clarkston in the miserably wet weather on May 26 in their first – and last – playoff game, ending with a 15-5 loss.
The game started and Clarkston showed they had come to play Lacrosse with two goals in the first five minutes of the game. Lake Orion’s defense was solid, preventing the Wolves from lengthening their lead, but the same could not be said for their offense, which simply could not find an opening.
The Dragons finally pushed hard down into the Clarkston territory and sunk a goal, giving hope for a tie game. About six minutes passed with Lake Orion repelling play after play, yet with 11 minutes left on the clock the wolves got their vengeance, putting in their third goal of the night, followed by their fourth and fifth in less than two minutes.
Clarkston managed to put in two more goals by the 7 minute marker, and with just over three minutes in the game, the score was 8-1 in Clarkston’s favor. But Lake Orion proved it’s worth with a strong push towards Clarkston’s zone. While they could not quick find the net, the ball remained in Wolf territory for the rest of the half.
The second half saw much of the same, with a strong LO defense doing everything it could to repulse Clarkston’s onslaught. Clarkston again began the scoring quickly and effectively, and with 14 minutes left in the game, the score was 1-13.
Lake Orion’s offense saw stark improvement in the second half, however, and the green-and-white managed to sink one more goal in a hard fought offensive play, bringing the score to 2-13.
Clarkston continued their offensive, sinking yet another point, yet a recovered rebound picked up by senior Ronnie Booth saw a brief Lake Orion recovery.
Ronnie Booth took the ball to the end of the field, bobbing and weaving between the Clarkston defense and found herself relatively alone in front of the Clarkston goal. Shooting high and outside, the score was suddenly 3-14.
Before Clarkston could recover, another strong push from Lake Orion brought senior Ashely Dakki to bear, who sunk the Dragons? fourth goal of the game.
The strong offense seemingly caught the Wolves off-guard, and their offense suffered because of it. Despite this, they scored again to bring the score to 15-4.
The Dragons would sink one more with the help of Jessica Smude, but with Clarkston running down the clock and the ten goal spread, it was an uphill fight the Dragon’s could not win.