DURHAM, N.C. — Cardinal Gibbons is no stranger to hoisting trophies in girls lacrosse, and the Crusaders reacquainted themselves with the hardware on Friday at Durham County Memorial Stadium.

The Crusaders defeated Charlotte Catholic by a convincing 19-7 score for their third straight N.C. High School Athletic Association championship — all three have come against the Cougars.

In this year’s 4A title, Gibbons led 10-3 at halftime to break open a 2-1 contest after the first quarter. The lead fluctuated between double- and single- digit goals in the third quarter, first starting a running clock with 5:20 left before Catholic scored to stop it from rolling.

As they have done all season, the Crusaders (20-4) got into transition and executed pinpoint passing to put Catholic (19-8) on its heels.

“We played the same that we had been playing all along, doing the fundamentals and following the offense that our coaches have installed for them and just really sticking to the theme of the whole year — playing for each other,” Gibbons coach Patricia Alexander said.

The Crusaders, seeded fourth in the East, also defeated Catholic, seeded third in the West, by a 16-7 score back in April, and the two have met five times in the championship game. Gibbons now has seven of the 14 state titles since the sport was first sanctioned by the NCHSAA, all of them coming in the last eight postseasons.

Gibbons was led by Charlotte Jackson’s six goals and four assists to earn MVP honors.

Caroline Mullahy (two goals, three assists) and Ella Grimes (five goals, one assist) were also crucial parts of the offense. Rocky Phelps (two goals), Izzi Hammond (two goals, one assist), Jane Bailey Ward (two goals, one assist), and Hayden Miller (two assists) rounded out the scoring.

Alexander also attributed the win to the team’s defense.

“We relied on good 1-v-1 defense,” she said.

• Photo Gallery: Cardinal Gibbons vs. Charlotte Catholic in girls lacrosse (May 17, 2024)

The four Gibbons seniors — Jackson, Hammond, defender Taylor Alexander and backup goalie Lauren Ngucu — go out on top with just one loss to an in-state team in their careers (a 2021 playoff loss to eventual champ East Chapel Hill).

In the loss, Catholic senior Mary Catherine Farley had three goals while Kate Daniels had three. Sophie Tan had one assist and Zoe Pounder had one goal.

Catholic has reached the state title nine times and has two titles, while Gibbons has seven titles in its eight appearances.

Prior to the game, the NCHSAA hands out sportsmanship awards to one player from each team. The Gibbons sportsmanship award winner was Jackson and the Catholic winner was Julia Nelson.

Source: highschoolot.com