WILMINGTON — It was senior day for the Ursuline lacrosse team, but the underclassmen stole the show offensively. Three Raiders each tallied four goals as the Raiders overpowered Caravel, 15-7, on May 10 at Serviam Field.
The Buccaneers — in the midst of a youth movement, with 17 freshman and sophomores on the 19-player roster — dominated the time of possession early on, and it paid dividends. Abigail Lum got the scoring started with 20:51 to go in the first half, and after an Ursuline violation three minutes later, Alena Malinowski added another.
The Raiders got on the board midway through the half following their longest possession of the game up to that point. Isabella Tesche finished the sequence with a bouncer at the 13:19 mark, and Claire Fowler followed after Ursuline controlled the draw, leveling the game.
Bucs freshman Carson Peace announced herself with two goals in 40 seconds to put Caravel back on top by a pair. Both came on 8-meter opportunities. Any momentum, however, was quickly extinguished when a Raiders draw control led to a nice pass from Fowler to Rachel Antonio for a goal just 13 seconds after Peace’s second.
Energized, the Raiders turned up the offense after that. They took advantage of draw controls to generate offense, and by the end of the first half, they were on a six-goal run. Emma Anthony scored on a mid-range shot with 8:22 to go in the first half to put Ursuline on top for good. The goal after that, scored by Olivia O’Hara, was made possible be a stellar save and outlet pass by one of the seniors, goalie Ameila Cradler. She also stopped Caravel on a few 8-meter opportunities.
Malinowski ended the Raiders’ run with her second of the afternoon early in the second half, and Peace came out from behind the net shortly thereafter to cut the Raiders’ lead to two. That, however, was it for the Bucs for several minutes. Anthony and Olivia O’Hara scored twice in a 12-second span six and a half minutes into the second, with Anthony jumping to catch a pass from Farrell Donnelly and shooting high past Bucs goalie Addison Van Rensler.
Cradler continued her strong netminding throughout the second half, stopping two big shots at one point to maintain a five-goal Raiders lead. Caravel’s final goal allowed Peace to reach a milestone — it was the 100th of her high school career.
Anthony, Fowler and O’Hara each finished with four goals. Cradler stopped 14 shots. Ursuline (9-3-1) hosts Tatnall on Friday at 4 p.m., then will await its state tournament fate. The field will be announced Saturday.
For the Bucs, Peace had four, and Malinowski added a pair. Van Rensler registered seven shots. Caravel fell to 8-6 and wraps up the regular season on Friday at Tower Hill at 3:45 p.m.
All photos by Mike Lang.
