Ful-FILLY-ing Weekend

By Roger Seidenman

What a weekend for Park athletics. By the time Rachel Alexandra had crossed the finish line at Old Hilltop, our softball team had won its conference championship. The Bruins defeated Bryn Mawr 8-6. It has been a terrific ride for them all season, and I’d like to add more details, but I was not able to attend the game. You can find more information about the championship at http://www.digitalsports.com/team/id/695334.aspx.

On Sunday morning, the Girls’ Varsity Lacrosse team played Friends for the B Conference title. The teams had met twice prior to this game. Friends won both contests by just one goal. I had the pleasure of sitting next to my pal Len for the game. His daughter is on the team, but more about her later. Early on, the teams traded goals, and I turned to Len and said, “Is this one going to be decided in the last two minutes?” Not wanting to be distracted, his response was something along the lines of, “Probably.”

The half ended with the Bruins trailing 6-5. Both teams had enjoyed the lead, and it seemed as if the second half would be one of numerous lead changes and constant shifts in momentum. As the second half began, Friends started pulling way. They built an 11-7 lead, and as Park called a time out after the 11th goal, it felt like it might be an insurmountable lead. Heading into the time out, as our team name suggests, we looked as if we were still feeling the effects of hibernation. Then it became a different game.

It took a few minutes before the Bruins started to chip away at the lead, but chip they did. Lucie ’10, the aforementioned Len’s daughter, scored three and assisted on the other of the four goals that eliminated the gap. Then with the final minute ticking away, after not converting on two scoring opportunities, Julia Meyerhoff ’10 drove to the goal and scored the winner with nineteen seconds remaining. After the draw, Friends had control of the ball, but then it came loose, Adrienne Tarver ’10 secured it and ran out the remaining the time. Championship won, 12-11 Park.

If you weren’t there, you missed a great game. It took an extraordinary team effort to rally from the four-goal deficit. Every girl on the team and every coach should feel great pride in rising to that challenge. It was a daunting situation to be trailing by four so late in the game, but the Bruins displayed great poise and courage to come back and win.

The game was well attended by the usual suspects— parents, grandparents, faculty, and administrators. One of the great things about Park though, is that the game was also well attended by students and in particular male athletes whose teams did not enjoy the same success this spring as the girls. Park is a community and on a weekend belonging to fillies it was never more so. You won’t see us tossing around monikers such as “Lady Bruins.” We’re all Bruins, especially, “As we’re marching onto vict’ry ‘neath the Brown and White.