March 1
North Mecklenburg Succumbs to Falcons in Double-Header, 13-4

The sun went down, the temperature fell, but the Lady Falcons exploded onto the field in their second game of the evening against a traditionally strong Viking team. A shut-out first half (5-0) laid the foundation for a decisive 13-4 victory to complete the Falcon tour at Huntersville.

The Lady Vampires, er, Falcons proved as they have done in years past, that they come alive after sundown. Right from the draw, the defensive wall of Jenna Lang, Ali Brown and Christina Demetros frustrated the Vikings from getting too close to the goal. Logan Kaznowski scored first on penalty. Kelly Reiser deflected a pass to allow Deirdre O'Connor to connect to Brittany Ruppert, who scored on a quick-stick. After a round of playing catch, Lauren "Coz" Cosentino slammed one in. The fourth point came in a fluid transition down the field by Shannon Leonard to Casey Reiser, to sister Kelly Reiser to Ruppert. Jenna Lang, Hagen Donahue and Elba Olivero got to show off some good ground ball hustle while Worsdale continued to do her thing in the cage. The last point of the half came when Dana Josephson, on a penalty shot, connected to Coz, who scored on a quick-stick. The first half ended in a shut-out at 5-0.

Coz started the second half by scoring the first two points, one on penalty and the other assisted by O'Connor. The Vikings turned up the aggression, charging on Demetros, then scoring a point. When Coz's head connected with an opponent's stick, she kindly responded by making good on the penalty. The Vikings then scored again but missed the next penalty shot. Kaznowski received the ball from Coz and slammed it in for the point. Coz then took her own draw and in an amazing run down the field, scored the next point. The Vikings made the next point on penalty, which Coz answered by slamming one in on a crease-roll. The unstoppable Coz scored the next point with an assist from Kay Kay Keung, which was quickly answered by another point by the Vikings. Donahue provided some excitement in the stands when a crease-roll looked good, but was found to have hit behind the net. In the last minutes of the game, goalie Cheryl Schlitter made 4 good saves, and took time out to brush the grass and dirt off of Brown when two other players nearly toppled her into the cage. An interception by Kaznowski and ground ball recovery by Olivero helped keep the Vikings at bay while a Kelly Reiser to Ruppert connection lit up the board for the last point of the game. In another memorable end-of-game moment, with just 5 seconds left on the clock, Keung charged to the net and slammed one in, just to have it bounce off of both goal posts and back out into the field. A loud and collective groan was heard from the fans all the way across the field, which quickly turned to cheers when the buzzer sounded to end the game, 13-4.

Contributed by Ri-Shea Schlitter

Photos contributed by Scott Brown