On Tuesday, May 24, the Jesuit Women’s Lacrosse team headed to Tualatin High School with one thing on their minds— to beat the Grant Women’s Lacrosse team. 

When the clock hit 6 pm, they hit the field and started the game off with the draw where sophomore Gigi Abernathy faced off for the Crusaders. 

Starting the game off strong, Abernathy and seniors Tessa Randall, Piper Daskalos, Sophie Pitelli got the Crusaders their first points on the board. However, the Grant Generals did not let this get in their head, as they continued to fight for possession and tried to score a goal. However, goalkeeper Sydney Partovi made it nearly impossible for anyone to get a goal with her impeccable saves. 

At the end of the half, the Crusaders were up 12-5. They had a great groove going and put on a show for the first part of the game. Unfortunately, when the second half started, the Generals gained momentum to score 9 goals during the half, whereas Jesuit only had one 1 goal. Senior Brynn Ensminger spoke on the feelings she and her teammates had during these final minutes.

“We were ready for everything and felt confident that we could get the ball back and get a goal in these final seconds,” Ensminger said.

With 20 seconds left in the game, senior Piper Buckley got the ball and went coast to coast down the field to then have a beautiful assist to Pitelli to tie the game. The Crusaders could now continue fighting into overtime. 

The Crusaders started overtime off by missing one of their top scorers, Piper Daskalos, due to a hairline fracture in her wrist. However, they got the ball after the draw and ran to their side, but with a man down, things were tricky and they could not yet find the back of the net. The Generals ended up gaining possession, but due to hard defense from Avery Edwards and Ensminger, Jesuit stopped them from scoring. 

In one swift motion, Abernathy moved the ball down the field in record time, then passed it to Lucy Maddocks, who kept up the speed and beat all the Generals back for a one on one with the goalie to score the winning goal. 

The Crusader girls rushed the field to go get their goalie and celebrate their advancement to the finals.

Sophomore Quinny Handley commented on the impact of their win last night.

“It felt amazing to win that game and get our revenge after losing to Grant by 1 earlier in the season,” Handley said.