Last spring, Cardinal Gibbons ended its girls lacrosse season with a win over Charlotte Catholic in the N.C. High School Athletic Association 4A state championship game.

On Saturday, the Crusaders opened a new season the same way.

Cardinal Gibbons never trailed as it scored the first four goals before going on to beat the Cougars, 13-7.

Therese Panganiban scored the first two goals of the game for Cardinal Gibbons with assists from Ella Grimes and Lexi Mullahy. Later in the first quarter, Mullahy and Hayden Miller added goals to give Cardinal Gibbons a 4-0 lead, forcing a Charlotte Catholic timeout.

The timeout was effective. Charlotte Catholic held the Crusaders scoreless the rest of the first quarter, then Lainey Wolfinger scored the first goal of the game for the Cougars with 47 seconds left to cut the Cardinal Gibbons lead to 4-1 through 12 minutes.

The two teams alternated goals in the second quarter. Jane Bailey Ward score dfor Cardinal Gibbons, then Martha Tucker answered for Charlotte Catholic. Mullahy scored her second of the game for Cardinal Gibbons to make it 6-2, but Avery Dolan answered right back for the Cougars.

Cardinal Gibbons led 7-3 at halftime though. Grimes scored her second goal with just seven seconds left in the half to push the Crusaders’ lead to four.

Neither team scored in the first six minutes of the third quarter, but Catholic managed to make up some ground. Tucker scored her second goal of the afternoon, then Sophie Tan scored twice more for the Cougars. However, goals from Mullahy and Grimes kept the Crusaders ahead 9-6 going into the fourth quarter.

Cardinal Gibbons dominated the fourth quarter scoring. Grimes started the scoring at the 9:30 mark, giving her a hat trick in the game. Miller scored her second goal, and Mullahy added two more in the final 90 seconds.

Elearnor McKloskey scored the only goal of the fourth quarter for Charlotte Catholic.

Mullahy ended the day with six goals for Cardinal Gibbons.

Cardinal Gibbons (1-0) is off until Friday when it takes on Maryvale Prep (MD) at 6:30 p.m. Charlotte Catholic (2-2) has now lost two straight, including a loss to Weddington. The Cougars will return to action on Mar. 12 when they travel to Cuthbertson at 6 p.m.