Staring at the prospect of her team’s fourth straight loss Tuesday, Archbishop Spalding senior Makenzie Brewer knew something needed to change against No. 2 Maryvale Prep. And that started with attitude.

“Just playing for our team, playing for our seniors, knowing that we’re a better team than this and that we can show other teams that we’re not out of it,” Brewer said.

Down by four early in the second quarter, the No. 4 Cavaliers began to battle back, winning ground balls, forcing turnovers and taking advantage of their offensive chances. Brewer then broke a tie game with 22 seconds left, driving past a fallen defender and firing the ball into the right side of the net to give Spalding a 10-9 win over the host Lions in a key Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference matchup.

The goal came after Maryvale’s Emma Mohn (3 goals, 2 assists) had scored off a feed from Carly Koepsell to tie the game with 1:38 left in regulation. Spalding then won the ensuing draw and held the ball for over a minute before scoring the game-winner.

“It was just whoever was able to get inside,” Brewer said. “We were trying to stall as much as possible and take as much time, then if somebody got that lane they were just go ahead, green light. Everybody was just trying to get that spot, and I just got lucky to be able to get that last shot in.”

Junior Ella Jane Ostrowski scored a game-high four goals to go along with three from Brewer and eight saves from junior goalie Ella Davis, including several at point-blank range, as Spalding (6-4 overall, 4-3 conference) captured a confidence-building win against a nationally ranked opponent (No. 12 USA Lacrosse, No. 21 Inside lacrosse) after consecutive losses to John Carroll, Severna Park and St. Mary’s.

“A lot of these games we’ve been down by a lot of goals and we try to build our way back up, and I think we really did it as a team today,” Davis said. “We play really under well under pressure. When the pressure comes, we really fight through it and come up with some really big defensive stops.”

Though this matchup has now been decided by a single goal in four of the past five years, it looked like it might be a blowout early.

Maryvale (8-3, 5-2) dominated the first 15 minutes, with junior Cayden Reese winning draws and the Lions building a 5-1 lead on Finola McCormick’s goal 1:45 into the second quarter.

But that’s when Spalding began to surge, getting consecutive goals from Ostrowski, Amanda Gazelle and Brewer to cut the lead to one.

“Once we sort of settled down and went play by play instead of thinking 5-1, we just took every play and tried to dominate that play specifically and began to chop away,” Cavaliers coach Tara Shea said. “Then, once we sort of gained some momentum, we realized that we’re here to compete to win, and not just stay in the game.”

Unlike the previous losses, Spalding rarely gave away possessions after the first quarter while also getting stellar play from a defense led by Davis and senior Ella Doerschner, who matched up with Lions standout Reese and limited her to a pair of goals.

For Maryvale, the final score was disappointing, but with a home game Thursday against top-ranked McDonogh, there’s little time to linger.

“We knew this was going to be a tough, close game. Spalding made a few more plays than us,” Maryvale coach Brian Reese said. “We don’t have a lot of time to dwell on it. We have another big game on Thursday.”

Goals: AS — Ostroski 4, Brewer 3, Collins 2, Gazelle; M — Mohn 3, Reese 2, Weetenkamp 2, McCormick, Moran. Assists: AS —Downs. M — Mohn 2, Koepsell, Rine. Saves: AS — Davis 8; M-Deluca 6. Half: Maryvale, 6-4.

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