Several fans used the phrase “tennis match”  to describe the first half of the girls lacrosse Division II game between second-seeded Kinkaid and No. 3 Lamar Wednesday night.

There were eight goals scored in the first 24 minutes and Lamar broke the tie, scoring with 52 seconds left, for a 5-4 lead. But Kinkaid broke the first half mold and outscored Lamar 5-1 in the second half for a 9-6 victory.

“I think the first half was just kind of a tennis match, back and forth exchanging goals,” Kinkaid coach Martha Brousseau said. “One of the things we’ve struggled to do in games is to come out strong and score the first goal and then score the next goal.”

The Falcons did score first, at 18:43 from Kenner Smith, but couldn’t capitalize on that momentum and allowed Lamar to score two back-to-back goals.

“Lamar had a great game plan in the first half as far as trying to stop any kind of fast break we might have,” Brousseau said. “So we struggled to move the ball and transition, which is one of our strengths.”

Alex Salinas and Casey Baden scored Kinkaid’s next two goals. Smith scored the last of the first half on an assist by Abby Spalding.

Trailing by one, the Falcons came out in the second half and scored five goals.

“We finally settled in and didn’t panic so much,” said Brousseau about the second half. “We just got a little more patient in what we were trying to do and we outscored them.”
Ashley Fatjo scored her first goal at 16:24. Smith had two more goals and Sarah Atnipp scored three in the final 25 minutes.

“Today Sarah Atnipp had two goals, and if she isn’t putting the ball in, she definitely runs the show by telling people what to do,” Brousseau said. “I think she gives the girls a little bit of confidence, so hats off to her. Kenner Smith had three goals, but the last goal wasn’t necessarily in the plan because we were really trying to stop the clock and not shoot, but she came up big for us.”

On defense, goalie Skylar Dabbar helped lead the Falcons to victory by saving Lamar’s balls from the net.

“Skylar Dabbar had one of her best games and we couldn’t ask for better timing,” Brousseau said of her goal keeper.

Kinkaid moves on to play either Klein or The Woodlands in the Division II championship game Saturday. As far as who Brousseau would like to face, she doesn’t care.

“I hope that Klein won the other game because we lost to them earlier in the season and we’d love to have that back,” Brousseau said. “But if we face The Woodlands, we’d love to beat them too because they nudged us out of the first seed.”

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