Girls lacrosse: Brunswick hangs around, gets win late against Olmsted Falls

BRUNSWICK — The Brunswick girls lacrosse team may have started quarters slowly Thursday night, but how the Blue Devils ended them mattered most in a 10-9 non-league win over Olmsted Falls. By the time freshman Chloe Kash found the net with 8:42 left for what turned out to be the game's final goal, the Blue Devils had previously led for fewer than three minutes total. "We all knew that we weren't playing as best as we could in the beginning," Kash said. "We knew that we needed to snap into it and do what we needed to do, so that's what we did. That's what we practice every single day at practice." Olmsted Falls (2-3) took an early lead just 2:30 in on a goal from Molly Murphy and added another just 31 seconds later from Kaleigh Conte. Less than two minutes later, it was 3-0 on Conte's second goal. Brunswick (2-2) ultimately trailed by three goals on four occasions but never gave up. It looked as if the Blue Devils had finally seized momentum in the final 95 seconds of the first half, scoring twice to cut what had been a 5-2 deficit to one goal. Junior Ryleigh Vlcek converted a free position attempt from the left of the net with 1:35 left. Junior Brooke Gelhar then fired a pass to sophomore Lindsey Roman, who found the back of the net with just four seconds remaining. But, just as the Bulldogs did all night, they responded with two early goals in the third quarter to take the momentum right back. Goals by Gelhar and Abigail Karim got the Blue Devils back within one before Olmsted Falls stretched the lead to two again with 3:45 left in the third. Brunswick then went on an offensive tear to finish the quarter with three goals in 75 seconds. Vlcek scored the first two with 1:24 left and then again with 18 seconds remaining to tie. Then when it looked like the game would go to the final 12 minutes deadlocked, Kash scored her second goal to give Brunswick its first lead at 9-8 with nine seconds remaining. "In our huddle, we really wanted to lock in," Vlcek said. "We really wanted to score goals and just show them that we could come out and beat them, because it was getting a little chippy out there." Being able to finally get the tying and go-ahead goal energized the Blue Devils as the third quarter ended. "That was so important," Brunswick coach Kolbie Spagnolo said. "The lead is obviously everything, and that was really what put the wind in our sails to finish it out." The Bulldogs, however, once again scored first in the final frame, with Conte getting her fourth goal just 28 seconds into the quarter to tie. Less than three minutes later, Kash scored to give the Blue Devils the lead for good. Olmsted Falls had several chances to to tie but turned over the ball with 4:29 remaining. The Blue Devils ran out the clock, with most of that time coming with Gelhar in possession. "Luckily, we were patient and smart at the end, so we were able to come out with the win," Spagnolo said. "We had the ball with Brooke Gelhar, who's obviously really fast and a smart player, so we made sure that we were prepared for the pressure if they were to give it to us." Vlcek led Brunswick with four goals, Kash had three and Gelhar, Karim and Roman had one apiece. The Brunswick players had been looking forward to Thursday night for a while, as it was their first home game of the season. "We have been talking about winning this game for a really long time," Vlcek said. "We decorated our whole locker room and we were really excited because this is our home opener and we just really wanted to come out and be strong." Contact Ryan Isley at sports@medina-gazette.com.