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Gut Check: Covenant survives state semifinal clash with VES

It was, essentially, one two hour long gut check. 

 

With the heat bearing down, Virginia Episcopal clicking and Covenant’s girls lacrosse team struggling to find the offensive rhythm they’d enjoyed less than a week ago against the Bishops in the Blue Ridge Conference championship game.

 

“When it’s hard, we see each other and we just keep going,” said Covenant junior defender Katie Lowe. “We keep building each other up and don’t stop.”

 

Covenant passed the gut check, eventually pairing a couple of late goals to hold off the Bishops for an 11-9 victory in the VISAA D1 state semifinals and earn a spot in the state title game Saturday. 

 

With 18:24 to play, Kerrigan Poindexter finally broke through for the Eagles to put Covenant up 7-6. But Virginia Episcopal refused to go away and eventually tied the game at 9-9 with 7:36 to play, when Mary Claire Caprise scored after a defensive stand by the Eagles that seemed to last three minutes. 

 

“We’ve played this team four times and obviously it’s difficult beating a team four times and we really stuck together as a team and pulled through,” said Covenant’s Lina Touririne. 

 

With 4:41 to play, Anna Kate Simpson scored to put Covenant up 10-9. But just seconds later, Covenant’s Delaney Poindexter — who scored three goals — drew a yellow card in the wake of an ensuing draw and had to head to the penalty box. 

 

“We just really had to push through the heat and focus on what our goal was,” said Covenant’s Aida Touririne. “We had to overcome the calls — we had to overcome it all.”

 

Covenant’s defense was up for the task and eventually got the ball back down on the offensive end and killed the penalty . That’s when Poindexter sprinted in out of the box after being released from the penalty and scored her third goal seconds later to push the Covenant lead to 11-9 with 2:22 to play. 

 

“We definitely played as a team,” said Covenant’s Cara Hamil. “We played together as a family and our coach told us before the game, the difference is you guys play for each other. We really showed that today.”

 

Margaret Ann Graves did the heavy offensive lifting for the Eagles in the win, scoring four goals. Kerrigan Poindexter, who was critical to killing that late penalty, scored twice and dished out three assists. 

 

Covenant keeper Katy Varaksa had seven saves on the day. Sierra Lewis scored four goals for VES and Lilly Lewis had a hat trick.

 

Now the Eagles advance to the championship game where they’ll square off with No. 2-seeded Nansemond Suffolk Academy, who Covenant beat 17-13 back in late March. 

 

 

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