Durham Academy girls lacrosse moves to title game, beats Ravenscroft

Revenge can be oh so sweet, especially when it gets you into a state championship game.

Durham Academy girls lacrosse team turned the tables on an earlier loss to Ravenscroft – its only TISAC loss of the season – to defeat the Ravens 16-10 in the N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association semifinals. The victory sets up a showdown for the championship with Charlotte Country Day for the second time in three seasons.

“They played a great game and prepared really well,” Durham Academy coach Debbie Rebosa said. “We didn’t want it (loss) to happen again.”

The Cavaliers were swept by Ravenscroft last season and failed to make the playoffs. The year prior, they lost in the championship to Country Day in double overtime.

“Our first showing against them was not what we hoped it would be,” DA assistant coach Beth Roberts said. “Now we know what we need to do to win.”

Durham Academy (11-4) got three goals each from five players: seniors Jordan Barry and Chloe Lewis, junior Leander Perun, and sophomores Hannah Pope and Madi Dunk.

Barry, a Stanford recruit for field hockey, put the Cavaliers on the scoreboard first with less than two minutes into the match. DA made it a 3-0 lead on back-to-back goals by Lewis.

But Cailin Dorsey took an assist by Anna Collawn and sneaked in a goal to break Ravenscroft’s drought at the 19:01 mark. The Ravens (12-4) scored two more times to tie the game at three.

After a four-all tie, the Cavaliers began to exert their dominance. Three different players scored to put DA ahead 7-4 before Ravenscroft could catch its breath.

The Ravens regrouped, however, on two consecutive goals by senior Hannah Makepeace to pull to within one, but that’s as close as they would get.

Durham Academy led 9-6 at halftime and built the lead to 12-6 in the second period before Ravenscroft could recover.

“It was a game of possession, and we had a hard time getting the ball back,” Ravenscroft coach Kerry Norman said. “My hat’s off to them, they played a great game.”

This story was originally published May 15, 2015 at 10:08 AM with the headline "Durham Academy girls lacrosse moves to title game, beats Ravenscroft."