The Notre Dame Prep girls lacrosse team's offense took awhile to mold into a cohesive unit this season, but the No. 12 Blazers have hit their stride in the playoffs.

In Tuesday's Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference quarterfinal, they moved the ball well, found the cutters and hit 56 percent of their shots to beat No. 9 St. Mary's, 15-8. Grace Haus led the way with six goals and two assists while Hannah Mardiney added four goals and one assist.

The Blazers advance to Thursday's 4:30 p.m. semifinal at No. 1 and seven-time defending champion McDonogh, which defeated Garrison Forest, 23-8, on Tuesday for its 153rd straight victory.

Though it can be intimidating to play McDonogh, which won the earlier meeting with NDP, 15-8, in April, Haus said her team will try to approach the semifinal the same way they approach any other opponent.

“Now that we know we're playing McDonogh, we're just going to have to step it up in practice [today], play really hard,” the junior attacker said. “Their defense is really good, so we're going to have to move it around. They double very fast, so just moving it around will be crucial. So if everyone hustles and gives 100 percent, I think we can be successful.”

The win over visiting St. Mary's only gave the Blazers (13-6) more confidence.

They were quick on and off the ball as they answered an early goal from the Saints' Natalie Miller with seven straight. Haus tied it on a free position and then added three goals later in the run. Mardiney's 8-meter goal gave the Blazers a 7-1 lead with 8:18 left in the half.

Jackie Kaderabek interrupted NDP's momentum briefly before Katie Railey hit an extra-man free-position goal and Mardiney scored on a feed from Mary Price Suter to end the half with a 9-2 lead.

NDP coach Mac Ford said that while his defense had been playing well, his offense has come together only over the past six games or so. Haus agreed.

“In the beginning of the season, we weren't working as hard at practice as we could be,” Haus said, “and we really stepped it up.”

The Blazers scored five goals on free positions but eight of their other goals were assisted.

The defense, led by Sarah Cooper and goalie Lucy Lowe (eight saves), held off a resurgent Saints team in the second half. Sydni Rosa and Allison Stofregen shared the task of face guarding St. Mary's stellar midfielder Shelby Harrison and kept her under wraps in the first half.

Harrison broke free in the second half to win more draws and loose balls to help the Saints rally. Her free-position goal three minutes into the second half sparked a 4-1 run. Whitney Albert, Brittany Jacobs and Kaderabek also scored goals that pulled the Saints within 12-7 with 12:38 left.

Saints coach Kelly Carter said she was emotional with her team at halftime, trying to spark a “why not” attitude.

“There's 25 minutes left. We're down by six. It's not the end of the world,” she said. “We can come back from that. We've come back from that before, so why not? Just get out there and play, nothing-to-lose kind of play. We did that. I think we became more aggressive … but we dug ourselves too big a hole to come out of.”

katherine.dunn@baltsun.com

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