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Women’s Lacrosse Championship Recap: Cardinal Gibbons wins first Women’s LAX Title behind Skowron’s 8 goals

CARY, N.C. – Cardinal Gibbons jumped out to a three goal advantage, and senior Erica Skowron had two of the game's first three goals, the other was scored by senior Crusader attacker Morgan Winstead. Lake Norman called time out to regroup and that's when Emily Chironna put in the Wildcats first marker of the day. 

In the end, Skowron was just too much for the Wildcats to handle as she poured in eight goals on the afternoon and added two assists. She was named the game's Most Valuable Player as the Crusaders won their first Women's Lacrosse State Championship in school history. 

Lake Norman dominated the draws on the day with Julianna Dworschak controlling 18 draws of the 22 won by Lake Norman. Dworschak only allowed 8 draws won by the Crusaders. Her dominance in the draw department all afternoon allowed Lake Norman to erase a 5 goal halftime advantage, cutting Cardinal Gibbons lead to just  one at 15-14 with 7:50 to play as Dworschak hit Kieran Rinaldi for Rinaldi's fifth goal of the afternoon.

Gibbons responded immediately as Jordan Lappin stepped in to win a draw and Cassie New poured in her only goal of the game with 7:16 to play, making the score 16-14. Lappin and teammate Elizabeth Wilson tacked on two more for the Crusaders to close out the scoring. 

Lappin had four goals for the Crusaders, adding two assists. Wilson had three goals and a pair of assists. Winstead had a goal and two assists for the Crusaders. Forbes Collier had a first half goal to round out the scoring for Cardinal Gibbons. 

For Lake Norman, Kieran Rinaldi led the Wildcats with five goals, Carly Vaccaro scored four times adding an assist, Chironna and Vanessa Grauds had two goals each, and Dworschak added a single marker and two assists. 

The broadcast by Time Warner Cable will be available within the next several days through the Local On-Demand Service (Channel 1020) for viewing.