It was a cold evening in Falls Church as both the Varsity and Junior Varsity Meridian girls’ lacrosse teams took on Bishop O’Connell, but it was worth the chills as both teams came away with dominant victories. The JV squad poured it on early and often, taking a 7-1 lead into the half and nearly doubling it for a final score of 13-2. Zoe Gale and Tessa Papadopoulos each scored four goals, while Clementine Kim added two and Cora Brown, Zoe Kuo, and Abby Crespin also all found the back of the net.

The game served as a solid prelude to the main event, as well as a precursor, as the varsity team similarly got out to a quick early lead with Julie Capozzi scoring 35 seconds into the game, and Bella Paradiso doubled it about minute later. O’Connell entered the scoring column in the game’s fifth minute but the Mustangs answered with another Capozzi goal to make it 3-1. After the visitors made it 3-2 eight minutes in, Meridian went on a 7-0 run to break things open, with Annie Moore and Tilly Gale each scoring twice in the sequence. Gale scored a third time with mere seconds remaining in the half to make it 12-5 after O’Connell had made a brief run.

The second half brought more scoring as the Mustangs were able to hold on handily, with Caroline Carmody finding the back of the net three times and Gale adding a fourth to lead all scorers. The final result ended up being 20-8 in favor of the home team as Paradiso, Capozzi, and Lila Deering all netted hat tricks in addition. Eight different players got on the board for Meridian, with Moore’s two, along with Maeve Dodge and Sydney Longer each adding a tally, completing the scoring. 

The team moves to 9-1 on the season and will play its next game next Wednesday as they visit Culpeper County.