CENTRAL VALLEY — Throughout the entire girls lacrosse Section 9 Class D championship on Friday, May 29, there was a resonating sense of calmness coming from the Highland sidelines and on-field personnel. Little celebration and little to almost no emotional swings. The team was just waiting for the real celebration.
Controlling the matchup against O’Neill for most of the contest, the Huskies ultimately walked away with a second-straight sectional title after a 10-6 victory over the Raiders at Monroe-Woodbury High School. Whether it was a ‘been there, done that,’ mentality or just a cool confidence, Highland knew what needed to be done to walk out as champion.
“Everyone’s focused. They’re cheering on their teammates and they’re there. We don’t need to do all the crazy sideline celebrations after every goal,” Ian Becker, the head coach of Highland said after the win when asked about the pure determination of the team to repeat. “We just get back into the circle, we focus and we get it done again.”
While the usual prolific offense showed off again, the play in net of Garand Cockburn was difficult to ignore. The senior goalkeeper stonewalled several potential scoring chances throughout the contest which directly allowed Highland to slowly build up the point differential.
“She’s got two jobs. See the ball, save the ball. She saw the ball and she saved it. I couldn’t have asked for anything more from her today,” Becker said with a grinning smile after the win. “I’ve been coaching her since she was in seventh grade and to see her have the game she had today. I loved it.”
Despite clearly being the star of the show on the turf, Cockburn had no interest in taking the credit for her incredible performance.
“It was my lockdown defense, what can I say?” She exclaimed with a smile after the game while being celebrated by teammates next to her. “I wouldn’t have been able to stop so many if they didn’t keep them out. Lockdown defense, they’re crazy.”
Throughout the rest of the lineup, the usual contributors were there once again to bring home gold for the Huskies. Quinn Ahrenholz led the team in points, dishing out five assists and scoring twice herself. Alyssa Bonelli found net three times while Logan VanZandt scored twice. Senior Annabella Bruschetti scored the other goal for Highland.
“I’ve got seven people on offense that they have to worry about. When I sub out, I still have seven,” Becker said, speaking to the talented depth of the team that makes it so difficult for opposing teams to scout against. “For us to just have that relentless effort from everybody… they just share it well. We don’t build the program around a player, we build the program around the team.”
The Huskies faced their only deficit in the early moments of the contest but quickly took over after that, controlling the pace and scoreboard the rest of the way. Highland consistently held on to a multi-goal lead throughout the entire game before cruising to the championship victory.
Reaching the regional stage for the first time in school history one season ago, things didn’t go exactly as planned with Highland falling to Windsor Central 16-9. This time around, the Huskies are looking to add even more history to the recent surge of success and keep on playing as long as possible.
This article originally appeared on Poughkeepsie Journal: Cockburn silences O’Neill in net as Highland secures sectional title
Reporting by Eric Decker, Poughkeepsie Journal / Poughkeepsie Journal
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