High school lacrosse: Medina defensive effort not enough in loss to New Albany

MEDINA — The Medina girls lacrosse team's defense was stellar, but the offense was as cold as the November-like weather. The top-seeded Bees never scored two goals in a row Friday while falling 7-5 to second-seeded New Albany in the Division I, Region 1 championship at Kenneth Dukes Stadium. The Eagles (19-3), who beat Medina 17-5 in the regular season, will face Hudson in a state semifinal Wednesday at Green High School, while Medina, which last made the state tournament in 2015, ended its season at 14-5. "We're coming back hard, and we're winning it next year," said Bees junior Avery Gandolf, who was outstanding in goal. "I can tell you that right now." Medina has a storied history in girls lacrosse but has not reached the state tournament since the Ohio High School Athletic Association began sanctioning the sport in 2017. The Bees won state titles in 2010, 2011 and 2012, finished second in 2014 and reached the semifinals in 2009, 2013 and 2015. "We wanted to do it for our seniors because we knew how badly they wanted it," said junior attack Carly King, who had three of her team's five goals. "We wanted to do it for them." In a game dominated by defense, the Bees led 3-2 late in the first half behind two goals from King and another from Coastal Carolina recruit Jackie Meyers, who finished her senior season with 64 goals and 24 assists. The Eagles, however, scored five of the next six goals to go up 7-4 with 6:13 remaining in the game. Jillian Bingham scored twice for New Albany in the final 3:16 of the first half, then Katie Kaucheck completed a hat track with two goals in the second half. The other Eagles goal in that stretch came from Mary Carson, who also scored in the first half, while King got Medina's lone tally in that 5-1 spurt. "That stretch was extremely crucial," King said. "That was a very important part of the game. We needed to be in tune with each other. After half, we were frantic that we were so close. We did our best, but there were just a lot of things we didn't capitalize on." Central Michigan recruit Sadie Hinkle had a goal and two assists for the Bees, giving her 70 goals and 29 assists for the season, while Leora Owings and Madi Zaccaro added assists. Bridget Driscoll had two assists for the Eagles, but a Medina defense led by Gandolf, Kylie O'Cull, Lucy O'Cull, Nora Reynolds and Cambrie Neuenschwander made New Albany work for everything it got. The Eagles' defense was just as good, with Louisville recruit Aubrey Bagenstose matching Gandolf's performance in goal. "That was one of the best defensive games we've played," Gandolf said. "Over the past few games, our defense came together like no other." The Bees will lose seniors Hinkle, Meyers, Lucy O'Cull and Claire Dorman, but the future looks bright for Colleen Bodkin's team. "We have a young team, so it's amazing," Gandolf said. "I wanted it so bad. I wanted it for our seniors so bad. This is the first time I truly felt like our team was a family. Spending two hours together every day, I've never wanted it worse. "With how young our team is, we have so much potential. I can't wait to see what we do. Our sophomores and freshmen are insanely good. We're making it (to state) next year." Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4046 or rnoland@medina-gazette.com. Follow him @RickNoland on Twitter.