by Ryan Hayes

The Oakdale Bears and Middletown Knights girls’ lacrosse teams have been two of the best teams in Frederick County this year, and their game on Wednesday night certainly proved why.

The Bears came into the game looking for the three-peat against the Knights this year, as they had beaten Middletown in the two previous matchups, once during the regular season and the other time coming from the Central Maryland Conference Championship held at Hood College. The Bears were also looking to beat the Knights in the playoffs for the first time in school history.

The other two games that these two teams played against each other weren’t the most competitive, with Oakdale coming away with a win with ease. However, this game would be much different.

The Knights came out of the gates focused and on fire, leading Oakdale 10-5 with almost 13 minutes left in the game. The Bears would not go down without a fight, with Seniors Emma Bowman and Sara Parnes leading the way.

“We were in this situation before, and we kind of knew how to handle it,” said Parnes.

With the Bears down by 1 with 39.0 seconds left in regulation, Parnes dished out a perfect pass to Bowman who finished with a goal on Middletown’s Senior Goalie Brooke Crompton.

Freshman Alyssa Wright played a significant role for Oakdale as she piled on 3 goals, including the game-winner in overtime.

“I was just trying to get the goal, it wasn’t anything special,” explained Wright.

Parnes tallied 2 goals and 1 assist and Bowman allotted 3 goals. Junior Erin Hoyle contributed with 2 goals.

The Bears were crowned the Class 3A/2A West Region champions, and played Stephen Decatur at Annapolis High School on Saturday for the State Semifinal game. They made it to the state championship game but were overpowered by Glenelg High School.