Bow girls lacrosse cruises past ConVal and into the D3 semifinals

BOW – Taylor Darrell said she and her fellow seniors on the Bow High School girls lacrosse team have dreamed of reaching the Division III semifinals.

Their dream finally came true this season.

The second-seeded Falcons earned their semifinal spot Thursday when Darrell powered them to an 18-8 quarterfinal home triumph over seventh-seeded ConVal.

Darrell, a midfielder, recorded a team-high nine goals alongside an assist and six draw controls. The University of Delaware commit credited her teammates for her success in the win.

“They give me the confidence and the power to just push through and believe in myself,” Darrell said. “My teammates are my best friends so I trust all of them around me to help me out.”

ConVal’s Grace Dell scored two of the the game’s first three goals and the score was tied at 3-3 with 16:20 left in the first half. Then Bow started to dominate on the draw and ended the first half on a 7-1 run to take a 10-4 lead into halftime.

Darrell scored three goals over Bow’s run and finished the first half with five tallies overall.

The Falcons logged 11 draw controls in the first half compared to ConVal’s two.

“I think (the players) were kind of nervous,” Bow coach Chris Raabe said. “The draw basically settled us in. Once you start getting the draw and you get it right off the bat and you’re not playing defense right away, it’s huge.”

Bow’s success on the draw continued in the second half. The Falcons won 10 of 13 draw controls over the final 25 minutes, which allowed them to dictate the pace and cushion their lead.

Bow (13-2) led by at least six and as many as 10 goals in the second half. The Falcons recorded the first three goals of the second half, two of which were scored by Darrell.

“(Darrell) is really good and we knew that going in,” ConVal coach Derek Sorbello said. “It comes down to we couldn’t make any mistakes and we made some mistakes and (Bow) capitalized on them.”

Dell led ConVal (7-8) with a team-high four goals while teammate Lily Sheridan had a hat trick and an assist. Sienna Sorbello scored once and Emma Crowley made three saves for the Cougars.

Darrell was not the only Falcon who finished with multiple goals in the victory. Olivia Krause tallied four goals, an assist and six draw controls for Bow. Teammate Emma Gagne recorded a hat trick alongside four draw controls.

Charlotte Ulrich and Zoe Jukoski each scored once and Pinky Fleury made two saves for the Falcons.

“Our dream was to make it to the final four and our determination and intensity really pushed us through,” Darrell said. “We really believed we could win.”