Zoe Gale and Ava Rosenbusch each scored three times, and the Meridian High School girls’ lacrosse team held off Alexandria City in an 8-7 win on Monday night.
No matter how the Meridian Mustangs end up faring in head coach Whitney Evans’ first season, one thing that’s for certain is it won’t be an easy one. In their first week of play, the Mustangs faced two Class 4 opponents in John Champe and Broad Run. Over the course of the next month, they’ll take on a gauntlet consisting of South Lakes, Robinson, Western Albemarle, and West Potomac. And on this cold night in late March, they hosted the Titans of Alexandria City, a quality Class 6 foe.
The Mustangs outscored their opponents by a combined margin of 30-3 in their first pair of contests, but that wasn’t going to happen this time. They gave up the game’s first goal, and didn’t score until nearly midway into the opening period. Then, they got hot, with Rosenbusch finding the back of the net twice in the first and Gale twice in the second as Meridian led 7-2 at the half.
Still, Alexandria City wasn’t going to go down without a fight, closing to within 8-4 after three and then drawing within reach of the tying tally. They cut the deficit to one with just under a minute remaining, but Meridian won the crucial draw and was able to play keepaway as the closing seconds ticked off. Hannah Rosenbusch and Leni Paradiso additionally contributed to Meridian’s scoring total, as the Mustangs improve to 3-0. The girls will now have several weeks off before returning to action for tournament play on April 11th.