McIntosh boys and girls advance in lacrosse playoffs

The state playoffs in girls lacrosse got off to a rocky start for the McIntosh Lady Chiefs but coach Nick Bellantoni told the team emphatically at the half that the game wasn’t over yet.

McIntosh trailed Blessed Trinity 9-1 at one point but stormed back to win 12-10 and advance to the quarterfinals set for 5:30 p.m. today. McIntosh faces Holy Innocents and the winner will take on the winner of St. Pius X and West Forsyth on Tuesday.

Seneca Ward led the team with five goals, while Kristen Farren and Brianna Magill added three and Lindsey Beard added one. Magill and Beard both had two assists. Mary Odom made three turnovers on defense, while Farren added two and Jessye Ebbinghouse, Cara O’Brien, Kayla Miles and Magill each had one.

Goalie Ashley Stewart made eight saves.

In other girls lacrosse action, Whitewater fell to Wesleyan 17-15 and Starr’s Mill lost to West Forsyth 16-12.

The McIntosh Boys lacrosse team opened the 2010 playoffs with a 10-6 win over the Blessed Trinity Titans Wednesday night. With the win the Chiefs tied the school record for wins in a season and look to set the record tomorrow at Westminster in a quarterfinal game at 1 p.m.

Against Blessed Trinity the Chiefs opened the scoring when Jack Bornhofen made a diving shot in between two Blessed Trinity defenders four minutes into the game. Tyler Price added another goal 45 seconds later on a beautiful feed from Ian Parker.

Blessed Trinity added a goal with two minutes left in the first quarter when a Blessed Trinity attackman picked up a loose ball that squirted out from a scrum in front of the crease for an easy score. The second quarter scoring began one minute into the quarter when Parker found Bornhofen wide open for the goal, the scoring continued when Kevin Bennett found Bornhofen another goal. The last goal of the half was scored when Sam Grayson dodged several defenders to find the top left corner of the net to take the Chiefs to halftime with a 5-1 lead.

The third quarter scoring began when a Blessed Trinity middie scored a minute into the second half. McIntosh quickly retaliated when Jake Polo found Bornhofen for his fourth goal of the game. A few minutes later Polo sunk a beautiful shot by faking a pass to a cutting attackman, and lobbing the ball over the goalie that was watching the cutting attackman with shot landing just under the top bar for McIntosh’s seventh goal of the game. Blessed Trinity quickly retaliated with three goals of their own, to make the score 7-5. McIntosh finally got back on track when Price found Polo for his second goal of the game.

Blessed Trinity closed out their scoring with eight minutes left in the game on a goal from a cutter. The Chiefs were able to score two more times when Bornhofen found Parker, and the scoring closed when Josh Phillips hit Tyler Price for his second goal of the game.

The Chiefs defense was led by Cooper O’Brien's 10 saves in the goal, Alex Scheumann’s six takeaways and four ground balls, Jake Polo’s six ground balls and three takeaways and Sam Grayson’s four ground balls and a takeaway.

In other boys lacrosse action, Starr’s Mill lost to Lambert 14-3.

The Chiefs will be taking on Westminster for the second time this season on Saturday. Westminster is currently the second ranked team in Class A-AAAA and has posted recent impressive victories against Holy Innocent’s, St. Pius and Lovett. The winner of the quarterfinal game will take on the winner of the Weslyan/St. Pius on Wednesday.