FREDERICA – The top-seeded Cape Henlopen Vikings played a perfect first half and held on to defeat No. 2 St Mark’s,15-5, on May 29 to win the DIAA girls lacrosse championship at the DE Turf complex in Frederica. Lindsay Monigle scored four goals and dished out an assist to lead a balance Vikings attack.
It was Cape’s 10th straight state championship, the last two coming against the Spartans.
Meredith Lockwood got the Vikings on the board 1:40 into the game as the Vikings capitalized on a Spartans turnover. That was the theme of the first half as Monigle scored a minute later, followed by a Mallory Jones goal. Monigle added another and Jones netted her second 10 minutes to give the Vikings a 5-0 lead.
The Spartans’ Kendra Schweizer and Megan Noonan were being hounded by the Vikings’ defense, and when they got a shot on goal, Vienna Iacona was there to turn it away. The Vikings added two goals in the last 1:30 of the first half as Sawyer Walker and Catherine Frederick scored to make it 8-0 at the half.
The Spartans came in averaging more than 17 goals a game, and they finally got on the board nine second into the second half. Schweizer won the faceoff and took it in, scoring into the top corner. She scored again 1:21 later to cut it to 8-2.
The Vikings, who allowed just over six goals per contest this season, answered with goals from Frederick and two more by Monigle. Paige Megargee ended Cape’s four-goal run with 8:15 to go, and Noonan and Schweizer would score the last two Spartans goals in a much more competitive second half.
St. Mark’s finished 17-1 in a very successful season. The Vikings also finished 17-1.
