For The Dialog
The girls’ lacrosse state tournament begins Thursday with four Catholic schools in the field of 10 teams. The Archmere Auks took the top seed thanks to winning their last 14 regular-season games.
The Auks (14-1) are led on offense by a pair of sophomores in Caroline Donovan and Kate Olsen. They also get key scoring from Riley DeBaecke and Delaney Dearing. The Auks’ defense has been stout this year, with seniors Lorin Donovan, Maggie Malloy and Camryn Howarth leading the way.
The Auks lost their opener to St. Mark’s but have five victories over top-10 foes since then. New coach Alex Beatson has both units playing well at the right time of the year.
The Ursuline Raiders earned the second seed with one of the toughest schedules in the state. The Raiders (12-2) are very deep on offense, led by seniors Brooke Schmeusser and Erin O’Doherty. They also get plenty of scoring from sophomores Jane Lyons and Moira Carroll, as the team averaged 15 goals per game. Goalkeeper Brigid Monahan had a solid season in goal helping the Raiders win both their one-goal games.
The St. Mark’s Spartans (13-2) had a bounce-back season and earned the fourth seed. They had a potent offense lead by Kendra Schweizer, Claire Estes and Megan Noonan. The Spartans were the only team to beat Archmere this year and had solid wins against five playoff teams.
St. Mark’s is the only Catholic school to reach the championship game, falling to Cape Henlopen. Schweizer had two sisters on that team – Taryn and Haley.
The surprise team of the tournament is eighth-seeded Padua. The Pandas (10-5) just started the lacrosse program three years ago. They improved every year and now are playing in the state tournament. They are lead on offense by Amanda Berry and a pair of sophomores, Rachel Delate and Jordan Bramble. The Pandas played a lot of high-scoring games and beat some solid teams.
Only three schools have won the state title in the history of the tournament, and this could be the year we see the first Catholic team to win the championship. They would join St. Andrews, Tower Hill and eight-time defending state champion Cape Henlopen. Tickets to the first round and quarterfinals are $5. The semifinals are $6 and the final is $7.
SCHEDULE
First round
Thursday, May 18
(10) Tower Hill (8-6) @ (7) Wilmington Charter (13-2), 3:45 p.m.
(9) Appoquinimink (10-5) vs. (8) Padua (10-5) at Caravel, 7 p.m.
Quarterfinals
Saturday, May 20
Appoquinimink-Padua winner at (1) Archmere (14-0), 11 a.m.
Tower Hill-Charter winner at (2) Ursuline(12-2), 3 p.m.
(6) Caravel (12-3) at (3) Cape Henlopen (13-2), 6 p.m.
(5) Polytech (10-4) at (4) St. Mark’s (13-2), 11 a.m.
Semifinals
Tuesday, May 23
Appo-Padua-Archmere winner vs. Polytech-St Mark’s winner, site and time to be announced
Tower Hill-Charter-Ursuline winner vs. Caravel-Cape Henlopen winner, site and time to be announced
Championship
Thursday, May 25
Appo-Padua-Archmere-Polytech-St. Mark’s winner vs. Tower Hill-Charter-Ursuline-Caravel-Cape Henlopen winner @ DE Sports Turf, Frederica, 7 p.m.
