On Saturday, the Vero Beach Girls lacrosse team ended their run of out-of-state games last week with a win over Harriton (Pa.) 16-10. Harriton finished 25-2 last season and finished #6 nationally in the LaxPower Power Rankings last season and both teams were looking to get back on track after losing to the nation’s #1 team McDonogh (Md.).  Unfortunately for Harriton they came out flat as Vero Beach took advantage to break out to a 6-0 lead in under 5 minutes.  That left Harriton with an uphill struggle the rest of the way but they were never able to fully catch-up, as the closest they came were at 7-3 in the first half and 11-7 at halftime. I think the biggest difference in the game was shooting percentages.  Harriton actually outshot Vero 28-23, but they were only able to put 15 of the 28 shots on goal, while Vero put an incredible 20 of the 23 shots attempted on goal.  Since Harriton scored on 67% of their shots on goal (while Vero scored on 80%) then it’s pretty easy to see the link.  Both teams showed an ability to break down the defenses of the other but the quick start pretty much stood up through the whole game and Harriton had to spend a lot of energy in the first half to get back into the game and it looked like they ran out of steam in the second when they needed it most.  Also, after gaining momentum late in the first half, making it only 11-7 at the half they squandered some early opportunities in the second half that would have closed the gap more and Vero was able to regain control of the game. The first half was played at a very high level as the two teams combined for ONLY 3 turnovers in the half.  That is quite extraordinary for any lacrosse game, but particularly the girls game, which seems to favor more passing and offensive patterns than the boy’s game and the stick itself does not have the webbing depth that the boys do so the ability to control the ball is more difficult. Both teams impressed me with their offensive patterns.  Last year I commented on how well Vero’s offense created crease scoring opportunities due to their off-ball wing cuts to the middle, and the timing of the entry pass to most take advantage of that cut.  That was a little less prevalent Saturday because Harriton’s defense was looking for it, but that left other avenues open and skip passing across the middle was effective.  Harriton ran some very interesting offensive patterns as well and one that was particularly effective was running two players from the wing to clear out the space behind them and having a cutter coming from the opposite direction to fill that space, which led to a number of open looks.  Although neither goalie’s save% was particularly good, the stops they made were often at critical turning points, and many were one-on-one. Both teams took advantage of the many penalty re-starts, scoring from the free looks afforded them before the defenses could close out.  It is a bit frustrating when watching the girl’s game at the level of play stoppages that occur.  One thing that really hurts the flow is the quick whistle that occurs right as a player is breaking through with the advantage.  From my understanding of the rules the refs have discretion to allow an advantage to play on but in real time it is hard to ascertain it, and then being careful with the mostly unprotected player takes precedent and the whistle blows.  I wonder if maybe the girl’s game needs to incorporate some more protection on the head area so that the advantage play can be more fully utilized.  It looked to me that both teams had clean breakaways looking at them but the early whistle took them away. As noted above, Vero jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead in the first five minutes.  Just 24 seconds into the game Megan Gorman took a right crease feed from behind the left side of the goal from Katy Pridemore and scored on a short-side right-handed shot.  Only 19 seconds later Zan Biedenharn scored the first of her 5 goals, taking Hannah Palau’s right wing feed on the low right side and cut to the middle, finishing with a left-hand shot to the far, low side of the cage and it was 2-0.  Preston Cooper then added an unassisted goal at 23:09 (25 minute halves) with a curl from the left side goal line extended (GLE), cutting to the front and shooting to the low right side. Gorman continued the run at 22:24, also unassisted, off the penalty restart straight on from the cage, and going low, right side again. At 20:39 Biedenharn replicated that play for 5-0 and just 28 seconds later Cooper took Gorman’s feed off another free restart, on the left crease and it was 6-0. Harriton regrouped and Sabrina Tabasso scored twice to cut the lead to 6-2.  At 16:51, she picked up a loose ball in front of the net and deposited it unassisted and then at 13:09 she cut down the right alley and fired a low bullet between the legs to cut the lead to four. Vero responded swiftly, at 12:42, as Biedenharn cut in from the right wing and Pridemore found her in stride and the left-hand shot put the lead up to 7-2.  Harriton responded again as Katie Melvin scored at 10:23 on another penalty free start, as she hit the top left corner with a high-to-high righty shot to make it 7-3.  The lead was further cut as Julia Marks took Jane Henderson’s free start feed from straight out on the left crease and scored short-side to make it 7-4 at 9:39.  But Vero grabbed both of those back, with Biedenharn’s fourth and Abby Shield’s first to make it 9-4.  Biedenharn repeated her right wing cut to the middle and this time Pridemore found her from the left wing at 7:56, again finishing left-handed.  Then Shields scored from Palau’s left wing feed to her as she cut towards the goal from GLE at 6:11. Harriton pulled one back at 5:25 as Alex Ladda scored unassisted on the free start, firing a right-handed shot to the low, far side after cutting to the middle from the left side.  Vero responded at 4:45 as Pridemore scored unassisted on the free restart, coming right down the middle and scoring low to the right side.  Just 43 seconds later Harriton again responded, on Henderson’s goal from Melvin’s pass from behind the right side if the net.  It looked like three players reached for the ball at the same time in front of the net and Henderson was able to get a stick on it and the ball dribbled in with 4:02 left and it was 10-6.  Vero again stretched the lead back to 5 with 2:19 to go on Shields’ unassisted tally, on another restart, down the middle and to the low, left side.  Melvin then closed out the defensively-challenged first half with :59 on the clock, unassisted, after a pretty spin move from the left wing, depositing the goal right-handed to the far, low side. 18 goals in the first half, in 25 minutes . . . writer’s cramp starting to set in.  Gatorade for the players.  Very entertaining, but both coaches must have been wondering what happened to their defenses.  Three turnovers meant a lot of offensive possession, yet the teams also managed to produce a lot of up and down action as the passing was very crisp. The second half started out a lot more conservatively.  Finally, Vero broke through at 22:31 on Ashley MacIntyre’s goal, as she cut from the right-wing backdoor and took Biedenharn’s right GLE feed in the middle to score high to the short side.  At 19:23 Vero took a 13-7 lead off the free restart and Biedenharn finished her day, taking a Shields feed off a restart, taking the feed on the right crease after Shields cut in from the left wing.  Harriton pulled one back on Henderson’s second, as she was fed in front from behind the net by Melvin, putting in the wide-open look at 17:41.  Play slowed down some and it wasn’t until 11:53 that Vero regained the 6-goal margin on Alyssa Maes’ unassisted score, as she cut down the right wing before dodging to the middle and and scoring right-handed to the far side. Vero put the game away with two more tallies to make it 16-8 before Harriton scored the last two goals to make it a 16-10 final.  At 5:53, Sheilds scored her third, taking AnnElisa Bieber’s back door feed from the right wing and scored from straight out.  that was followed at 1:53 as Gaby Darcangelo got into the scorebook on a free restart, bouncing a shot between the goalie’s legs from straight on.  Ladda answered for Harriton at 1:32 on another restart, cutting to the goal from the right wing and placing a nice shot to the high corner of the right side.  Then with 48 seconds left Tabasso finished the day on the restart, duplicating the location of the last shot. A very entertaining game to watch.  Two top teams in the nation.  A big win for Vero as far as the national polls are concerned. For Harriton, a tough way to open the season but great preparation for winning the state championships in Pennsylvania.  Good luck to both teams in that quest!   Team Statistics: Face-offs:  14 apiece Shots:  VB 23 – Harriton 28 Shots on Goal:  VB 20 – Harriton 15 Turnovers:  VB 8 – Harriton 7   Individual Statistics:   VB Zan Biedenharn  5G/1A Abby Shields  3G/1A Katy Pridemore  1G/3A Megan Gorman  2G/1A Preston Cooper  2G Ashley MacIntyre, Alyssa Maes and Gaby Darcangelo 1G each Hannah Palau  2A AnnElisa Bieber  1A   Harriton Sabrina Tabasso 3G Katie Melvin  2G/2A Jane Henderson  2G/1A Alex Ladda  2G Julia Marks  1G   Goalie Melina Avery of Harriton made 4 saves and Allison McDonough of Vero Beach made 5 saves Thanks to coaches Shannon Dean of Vero Beach and George Dick of Harriton for spending time with me both before and after the game!