Girls lacrosse: Second-half Western Reserve Academy onslaught sinks Medina

HUDSON — The weather was cold Tuesday night in Northeast Ohio, but the start to the second half for the Medina girls lacrosse team might have been even colder in a 20-11 non-league loss to Western Reserve Academy. Trailing just 8-6 going into the half, the Bees (1-4) allowed seven goals over seven minutes, including four in 2:11, to find themselves down 15-6 with 5:00 left in the third quarter. The problem was simply not being able to possess the ball. "I think we need to just work on the draw," Medina coach Colleen Kubasta said. "We feel pretty confident we can win games if we can just lock down our draw, and we're shuffling through too many people, I think, so we just have to isolate one or two and kind of go from there." The start to the half was deflating for Medina, which had chipped away a 7-3 deficit to just 7-6 with 1:25 remaining in the first half on goals by Audrey Thompson, Campbell Burns and Paige Armstrong. "I think we just harped a lot on those timeouts and in between quarters, about working as a unit," Kubasta said. "We're a really young team in terms of age and time of playing lacrosse, and so it's just getting them to work together to be able to get goals." The brightest spot for the Bees offensively was Burns, who scored seven of the team's 11 goals. "Campbell has been doing that all year. She has been just a complete, standout player," Kubasta said. "I just think it's a testament to her work ethic. She just is the biggest hustler that we have, day in and day out, practicing, games, film. I'm not shocked." Burns' seven goals included going 6-for-6 on free shots, in which she found a different spot to shoot at each time. "We were kind of talking from the start that the goalie was really tall and definitely had an advantage, so we were trying to shoot off-side," Burns said. "Usually, when I think about it, I kind of mess it up. So I kind of just tried to wipe my brain and just go with whatever I went with at the moment and I guess that ended up being a different spot each time." Seeing Burns score was a motivator to the rest of the team. "We just watched Campbell, and I think the team finally came together at that point," Thompson said. "Campbell started off all strong, and the rest of the team picked up the slack there in the middle." Cora Claypool and Maddie Dawson also scored for the Bees, but the start of the third quarter did them in. Medina knows know there is still plenty to learn but time left to do so. "(The third quarter) was definitely hard," Burns said. "I think it's so early in the season, so we can't be too hard on ourselves, but we definitely have much to work on." "I just think we got to keep our positive attitude," Thompson said. "Campbell Burns does a really great job of that. Our bench was doing great today, so it was an all-around team effort to keep the energy, but it's something we definitely need to work on." The Bees will hope to use this game as a learning experience. "Obviously, we want to win, but our goal is to win in May," Kubasta said. "That's really all we're harping on right now is to find a way to work together as a team so that we're ready when it counts." Contact Ryan Isley at sports@medina-gazette.com.