One year ago, Oakton’s girls lacrosse team sat together on the sidelines following a frustrating loss at Stone Ridge (Md.) listening to its coaches list everything it still needed to work on.
The outcome was the same for the Cougars on Wednesday afternoon at Stone Ridge in a 9-6 loss. But the postgame mood was decidedly different after a solid second half that showed why Oakton is again considered a contender for the Northern Region championship.
The third-ranked Cougars (6-2) trailed by as much as 8-2 early in the second half. But they didn’t wilt against the unbeaten Gators (12-0), who are one of the top private school programs in the formidable Independent Schools League.
“We love a challenge like this,” said Oakton senior defender Katie Moran, whose team was the region runner-up last season. “You can learn a lot from a game like this. I hope they learned some things from us, too.”
With Moran blanketing Stone Ridge senior Kaitlin Duff, the Cougars outscored the Gators 4-1 over the final 21 minutes. Duff scored all five of her goals in the first half, but was held scoreless the rest of the way by Moran, who will play field hockey at Penn.
Oakton sophomore attack Ashley Kimener scored two goals and added an assist. Junior midfielder Hillary Freund also scored two goals for the Cougars and sophomore goalie Tory Morgan made eight saves. Midfielder Kaitlin Keena scored two goals for Stone Ridge, which led 3-0 just eight minutes into the game.
