The regular season would come to a close on Thursday night for the girls’ lacrosse team at Meridian High School, and it would come against a quality opponent in the 9-1 Dominion Titans. The Mustangs, at 9-3 themselves while riding an eight-game winning streak, would be looking to close out their campaign with a statement victory, on a beautiful evening in front of a packed Falls Church crowd.

Dominion struck first, just under two minutes into the action, but Hannah Rosenbusch evend things up at one apiece midway through the frame and Ally Campbell gave the Mustangs the lead moments later. Catherine Buchholz would then break a 2-2 tie in the waning seconds of the first quarter, and the Meridian lead extended to 4-2 courtesy of Lila Deering before Dominion scored three times in a span of 24 seconds to go back in front early in the second. It was a back-and-forth contest the remainder of the first half, and the home team went into the intermission trailing 6-8.

The deficit would reach 7-10 midway through the third, but the Mustangs rallied together as Zoe Gale and Campbell got them within one with a quarter to go, and then Deering tied it less than a minute into the final frame. Campbell gave Meridian its first lead of the second half only seconds afterwards, and after the Titans got back even at 11-all, Rosenbusch scored what would prove to be the game-winning goal at the end of a gritty sequence in front of the net with five minutes remaining. Deering tacked on one more a minute later, and the home team played keepaway as the clock ticked down to escape with the hard-fought 13-11 victory.

Campbell and Deering each had four goals in total, while Rosenbusch and Gale had two. The Mustangs, who finish their regular season 10-3, will now await their first opponent in regional postseason play next week.