Girls Lacrosse - Franklin Regional vs Latrobe

May 11, 2021

Franklin Regional Girls Lacrosse Overcomes Slow Start to Beat Latrobe 12-9

Franklin Regional overcame a sluggish start against visiting Latrobe, scoring multiple goals in quick spurts, then pulled away late in the game for a 12-9 non-conference girls lacrosse win on Tuesday, May 11, at Panther Stadium in Murrysville.

Latrobe opened the game with unanswered goals by Maria Lazzarro, Taylor Desko, Madison Viazanko, and another one by Desko to take a 4-0 led with 8:34 to play in the half.

Franklin Regional finally broke the ice on a Sarah Gardner goal at the 7:38 mark, then went on a quick mini-run to erase the Lady Wildcats' advantage. Three Franklin Regional goals within a period of 70 seconds off the sticks of Gwenyth Shilling, Catherine Helm, and Regan Fusting put the Lady Panthers back to even at 4-4.

The teams traded goals 20 seconds apart as the half wound down, with Latrobe's goal by Carolina Walters and Franklin Regional's from the stick of Regan Fusting, and the half ended tied at 5-5.

The Wildcats scored first in the second half as Julia Battaglia got her name in the scorebook, followed by Taylor Desko's third of the game to give Latrobe a 7-5 advantage.

The Panthers got one back 40 seconds later with Gwenyth Shilling's second goal, then Taylor Desko notched her fourth for the Cats to make the score 8-6 with 14:18 to play.

But the Panthers came roaring back just two minutes later, going on another run in which they scored 6 unanswered goals in under six minutes. The Panthers' gained the lead with goals from Regan Fusting, Sarah Gardner, Gwenyth Shilling, Brianna Bearly, and the final two by Shilling, gaining a 12-8 advantage over the Wildcats with 6:40 left in the game.

A late Latrobe goal by Taylor Desko closed the gap slightly, making the final score 12-9 in favor of the Panthers.

High scoring honors were shared by two sophomores, Franklin Regional's Gwenyth Shilling and Latrobe's Taylor Desko, each with 5 goals.

Junior Grace Morani played the entire game in goal for the Panthers. Junior Kaylee Dusetzina minded the net in the first half for the Wildcats and sophomore Kierra Madey guarded the goal in the second half.