Girls lacrosse: Wadsworth holds off late Brunswick push

WADSWORTH — Sometimes winning in girls lacrosse comes down to playing the timeless game of keep away. That was the case for the Wadsworth on Saturday afternoon in an 8-7 non-league win over Brunswick. After the Blue Devils (6-6) had scored three straight goals in the fourth quarter of the Medina County matchup to cut an 8-4 lead to just 8-7 on a goal by senior Ryleigh Vlcek with 2:49 left, the Grizzlies (9-3) won the next draw and went to work. Wadsworth passed the ball around the outside for a bit, then went behind the net before heading back outside, all while keeping the ball away from the Blue Devils and not trying to get a shot on goal. "It was so much fun," Wadsworth junior Ashley Fleck said. "But it hard trying to make sure we don't turn over the ball in the most important moments, because it really did get down to the wire at the end." Some of those stressful moments were when the ball hit the field and the Grizzlies had to hustle to get to it before Brunswick could take off down the field with a chance to tie. "That was very stressful," said Fleck, who grabbed one such ball with about 30 seconds remaining. "I felt like everything was on the line because we didn't need them coming down, scoring goal and going into overtime." On the other side, the finish was tough for the Blue Devils, who had all the momentum in the final half of the fourth quarter. Despite the fatigue, Brunswick didn't give up and tried to get the ball until the final horn sounded. "It was pretty frustrating," Vlcek said. "We were pretty tired, we were pretty frustrated, but I think that we just kept trying to push, and obviously it didn't go our way. But that's OK. We're ready for the competition." The Grizzlies led 3-2 after the first quarter, and then freshman Ava Hamm and Fleck scored in the first 1:47 of the second. Fleck scored again with 5:00 left in the quarter to take a 6-2 advantage. "That was super fun," Fleck said. "It was very energetic. It was just so great, and we were just having fun out there." The only two goals for the Grizzlies in the second half came courtesy of sophomore Jillian Jones, who scored in the third and fourth after a conversation with assistant coach Andrew Kiko at halftime about being more aggressive around the net when guarded by Brunswick senior Marian Azap. "My coach talked to me a little bit and he said that I was scouted, and she was supposed to be on me the whole game," Jones said. "I just saw the cuts that were happening and decided I'm probably faster than her, so I just felt more confident taking that." Fleck led the Grizzlies with three goals, while Hamm and Jones had two each and freshman Kennedy Hewitt had one. Junior Peyton Deemer led Wadsworth with a pair of assists, while Fleck and Hewitt added one apiece. Vleck scored four goals to pace the Blue Devils, and senior Brooke Gelhar, sophomore Chloe Kash and freshman Ava Kickel scored one each. Gelhar had the only two assists. Having lost to Hudson 14-4 on Thursday, Wadsworth was eager to get back on the field and put another mark in the win column. "It was just really important for us to get our mentalities back up again," Fleck said. "It was a hard loss against Hudson, but we bounced back." Contact Ryan Isley at sports@medina-gazette.com.