The Lady Wolves smiled and cheered as they finished their last home game during Game for a Cure on Saturday.
They turned around the game against a 5-point deficit in the first half against Oxford to end the second half with a 10-8 win.
“Oxford was aggressive,” said Clarkston Girls Varsity Lacrosse Coach Daneen Kincaid. “They played a great game. They took it to us every time. They were looking to shoot. Our first half we hardly looked at the goal. They were just trying to figure out who was doing what.”
Oxford opened with the first goal and moments later Sara Hall tied the score, 1-1.
The Lady Cats pulled themselves into the lead and with five minutes left in the first half scored their sixth goal.
Less than a minute later, Anna Gray took off on the field and shot on Oxford’s net, scoring for Clarkston. Oxford shot back with a goal of their own but the drive had begun for the Wolves.
The drive led to two goals from Hall and one from Sabrina Parks in the last two minutes of the half, putting the score 7-5.
Kincaid explained the team was getting used to their senior leader Lauren Sharkey being out of the game with a broken foot. She added what helped at the end of the first half was the team relaxed.
“The whole team’s confidence was really low,” Kincaid said. “When you take your main scorer off the field it makes everyone else wonder what their role is. They knew they would have to step in so they did a good job with it. They settled down and did what they knew they had to do,” she said.
The Lady Wolves quickly opened the second half with a turnover in Oxford’s territory.
They made three shots on the Lady Cats net and it was the next one made at 19:12 left in the game from Natalie Bowman which broke through to close the score.
Lyndsey Pike brought Clarkston into the lead. First she tied the score with 13:49 left on the board and struck again four minutes later.
Hall finished off the game with two more goals to put the girls at 10 points.
“She was really looking to score,” said Kincaid. “She did a great job. A lot of people stepped up and played different positions. Jillian Kurolvech is a great player. She did every single task we asked her to do. She played all three positions today and did a great job. I am proud of her effort.”
Hall led the team with three goals and Pike had two during the game.
Kincaid added the girls had a long stretch of games within a week’s time, plus two losses to Birmingham and Bloomfield.
“Their confidence was down,” she said. “They needed this win to finish out their season.”
The Lady Wolves opened the week against Marian and head to Troy on Thursday for their last game of the regular season.
“Both of those game we can win,” said Kincaid. “It’s going to depend on how they take their confidence and go forward with what they do with it.”
They begin MHSAA Regional playoffs next Wednesday against Waterford Kettering. The game begins at 7 p.m. at Lake Orion High School.