The John Carroll girls lacrosse team wants every team in the Interscholastic Athletic Conference of Maryland A Conference to know it is for real. The Patriots? 6-0 conference start is evidence that this is not the same type of team from years past.
Second-year coach Krystin Porcella has been cultivating a new confidence in her team since she started as an assistant in 2005.
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“The whole level of confidence is completely different around here,” Porcella said. “The first year, we were losing the one-goal games. In the second year, we split some of those one-goal games, and this year, the third year, I was hoping we would be able to win those one-goal games. So far, so good.”
Before Wednesday?s game against North Harford, the Patriots (8-5 in 2006) had won close games against St. Mary?s (one goal), Seton Keough (two goals) and St. Paul?s (two goals).
A 1994 graduate of John Carroll, Porcella said that the work ethic of this year?s team is what makes them championship contenders.
“They go so hard at each other ? day in and day out,” Porcella said. “When we step onto the field, we have already seen everything in practice ? our attackers have already been knocked down by our defenders. So when it happens [during a game], they are up and fighting for the groundball.”
Junior midfielder Allyson Carey, the team?s leading scorer, plays a vital part in the team?s makeup and level of intensity. A member of the under-19 national team, she has scored 17 goals in six games.
“We all hustle every inch of the field together, and we work well for each other,” Carey said.
Carey sees other teams taking a second look at the Patriots this year, but she still enjoys the underdog role.
“You are not the one everybody is out to get,” Carey said. “We play every game thinking we want to be the better team.”
Senior defender Kaitlin Gambrell said the Patriots have used the underdog perception to their advantage.
“Last year, one of the other team?s coaches yelled from the sideline, ?This is the easiest team we play this year,?” Gambrell said. “That got us fired up then, and when we played them this year, we remembered that we beat them.”
John Carroll will return to conference action April 12 against visiting Bryn Mawr (6-0).
