Granville clears mind, sprints past Pickerington North for girls lacrosse win
GRANVILLE — Bella Rockwell did not grade herself an "A" performance, but the "W" is all that will show on the report card of the Granville girls lacrosse team.
Rockwell's goal with 1:05 left Thursday gave Granville a 9-8 victory over visiting Pickerington North in its home opener at Walter J. Hodges Stadium. Rockwell assisted her senior co-captain Gabrielle Graves on the previous two goals as the Blue Aces rallied from an 8-6 deficit.
"Getting the win helped me think, 'Maybe I didn't play as bad as I thought I was playing,' " Rockwell said. "We can't get into our heads, especially for the girls who were winning all of the time last year. We have to stay focused and not get frustrated with each other and ourselves. I got into my head at the beginning of the game because I wasn't playing my best."
Granville rebounded from an 11-7 loss at Gahanna on Tuesday and gave new coach Haleigh McPhillips her first victory.
The Blue Aces graduated much of their core after last season's impressive 16-2 finish. They showed Thursday they still have plenty of fight as sophomore goaltender Ellie Alexander blocked a tying shot during the final minute.
"We really worked together as a team and capitalized on each other's strengths individually," senior Zoe Gravitt said. "We slowed down and took a breath. Being our home opener, we were just really excited to play, and that was giving us a bit of nervous energy."
Granville fell behind 8-6 early in the fourth quarter in what had been a back-and-forth battle with end-to-end action. The Blue Aces then held the Panthers scoreless during the final eight minutes as junior Olivia Hoyt, sophomores Ava Phillips and Evie Sanders and freshman Abby Lauvray protected Alexander.
"It's really only been a month since we all came together on the field, and we have a lot of underclassmen stepping up, which has been great to see," said McPhillips, who wrapped up a championship career on the field at Capital University last spring. "The seniors and their leadership, it has been so impactful. … We are definitely still figuring out how each other plays on the field, and over time that will come. This is just a glimpse at what the rest of the season looks like."
Rockwell took matters into her own hands with Granville trailing by two as she broke up a pass attempt from North goaltender Mikayla Bailey, gathered the loose ball and assisted Graves for the goal. Two minutes later, Rockwell again assisted Graves for the tying goal with 4:22 left.
Graves scored a team-high five goals, with Rockwell adding two and Gravitt and juniors Gwyn Smith and Edi Fisher one each for the Blue Aces.
"It really brings up the team morale, especially after the tough loss against Gahanna on Tuesday," said Rockwell, who has signed to play collegiately at Rider. "We really pulled it together as a team and were making smarter decisions. Hopefully that transfers through spring break and into our next game against DeSales (on April 4)."
It was all hands on deck for Granville as the inexperienced Blue Aces were further depleted with seniors Olivia Graves and Grace Hotchkiss out of the lineup. In place of Hotchkiss, Gravitt shared draw duties with Fisher, a role Gravitt has not filled since middle school.
"The seniors, we have been playing together for a really long time," Gravitt said. "We are working together. We are here to win, here to get that dub. We are still the team that we were last year. We are just getting used to playing with new players, and we are really excited for the year ahead of us."
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This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Granville sprints past Pickerington North for girls lacrosse win
