A pair of midseason ACL tears and a stretch of bitter losses didn’t condemn Spalding girls lacrosse.

A five-goal deficit in the first quarter of the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference quarterfinals wasn’t going to, either.

Spalding held St. Mary’s scoreless for the second and third quarters and the second-seeded Cavaliers rallied to beat seventh-seeded St. Mary’s, 9-8. The Cavaliers will next host St. Paul’s, the third seed who beat John Carroll 9-4 on Thursday, in the semifinals Tuesday.

“We just dig deep,” junior Ella Jane Ostrowski said. “We never give up.”

Cavaliers coach Tara Shea had no reason to worry when the first quarter horn sounded. Yes, St. Mary’s midfielder Caroline Ewing had just scored her second goal of the frame just before the quarter ended. The Saints were winning nearly every draw and 50-50 ball, earning a pair of free positions to score, too.

But it couldn’t stay that way, not with her battle-tested Cavaliers.

Spalding trailed Severn by four goals at halftime last Friday just to rebound and win in quadruple overtime. A few days later, the Cavaliers crushed McDonogh – which had been unbeaten in-conference – by double digits.

Not every test of grit happened on the field, either. Star senior midfielder Maeve Cavanaugh, a Notre Dame commit, suffered a season-ending injury in mid-April. A few days later, Makenna Salta – a dynamic first-year presence and a key at the draw circle – suffered the same fate.

“I know the term ‘fighter’ is overused. But these girls are fighters,” Shea said. “Sometimes we get off to slow starts, but they have dug themselves out of so many holes.”

Beating McDonogh as they did was just additional proof to what the Cavaliers could do. Taking down Notre Dame Prep on April 22 and surviving the Severn game put the rest of the conference on alert.

Injuries were a foolish reason to count them out.

“We play for those who are hurt,” attack Ellie Roberts, who initially tied the game, said.“We play for everyone on the sidelines. We play for each other.”

St. Mary’s still had a lead to work with despite goals from Lilly Downs and Ostrowski getting the Cavaliers within 5-3 at halftime.

Going scoreless through one quarter was one thing, but a two-quarter drought gave Spalding all the time it needed to put itself back into the game.

Defense seeded the comeback by trying to focus less on what the Saints’ attacks were doing and more on communicating with one another. In the first quarter, Spalding defenders committed too many fouls. In the remaining three, they made stops, forced outside shots and seized turnovers.

“And we have an amazing keeper,” Shea added, “who I think is the best keeper in the conference.”

Goaltender Ella Davis snuffed out four Saints shots, one that directly led to Roberts’ equalizer.

Even a lead-preserving score by St. Mary’s Kendall Kemezis early in the fourth wasn’t enough to derail Spalding. Spalding drew even and an exchange of goals tied it again at 7. But when Cavaliers Makenzie Brewer and Ostrowski notched back-to-back goals in rapid fire response, there was little St. Mary’s could do with only a minute left.

“We adjusted to their faceguard,” Ostrowski said, “and we played off of that.”

Ewing did try.

“They’d’ been paying close attention to Caroline all game,” Saints coach Tom DeMaio said. “But we told her we needed to score quick.”

The junior fired her third goal six seconds off the ensuing draw. All the Saints needed to do was win the final draw and they could force overtime – DeMaio was sure of it.

But it was Spalding racing away with the pickup in the end.

Have a sports tip? Contact Katherine Fominykh at kfominykh@baltsun.com or DM @capgazsports on Instagram.