Girls lacrosse: Benjamin braves monsoon for upset revenge vs. Pine Crest

The Benjamin girls lacrosse team huddled on the team bus, waiting for 45 minutes as a monsoon dumped buckets of rain on its vehicle.

Finally, the Broncos found out they were headed to the state regional finals.

Coach Quinn Roe had just gotten off the cellphone with an FHSAA official and screamed, 'We just wooooooon!!!'

And the whole bus filled with screams, too, as an impromptu pizza party broke out.

Seventh-seeded Benjamin posted a narrow 10-8 victory over its third-seeded hosts, Pine Crest, in a match shortened because of a thunderstorm that pounded Broward County.

With 2:30 remaining, the players were told to head to the bus. The blue-and-orange belted out songs to kill time. And then they celebrated even more when they learned Benjamin had exacted revenge on Pine Crest.

Last season, Benjamin was beaten at this exact juncture, in the state regional semifinals, by Pine Crest. Benjamin had rallied from eight goals down to tie but lost anyway.

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'We’re so excited,' said senior captain Nicole Nicklaus. 'It’s so great. After last year, we’re happy to avenge that for all the seniors that left — one is playing at Army. We’re so glad to have won for them. And our team this year, it’s only going to get better when we leave because we’re so young.'

Junior Ava Schulties scored three goals and one assist, Nicklaus had one goal and two assists and Piper Tuehey scored four goals, including an empty-netter after an unorthodox decision by the Pine Crest coaching staff.

In addition, Benjamin goalie Rachel Hauissen made seven saves in a big effort and senior Grace Tigue won the majority of faceoffs.

'It’s very sweet,' said Roe, in her second season.

Benjamin (13-7) faces American Heritage on Friday in the state regional final. 'I have confidence in us,' Nicklaus said. 'American Heritage is always hard competition but we’re a completely different team than early in the season. We’ve been underestimated.'

After Pine Crest stormed to a 2-0 lead, Nicklaus got the Broncos on the board, scoring from 8 feet in front off a sharp feed from Mikayla Scotto. That was the start of five straight goals as Benjamin took a 7-4 halftime lead.

Nicklaus, who has 20 goals this season, is a granddaughter of legendary golfer Jack Nicklaus, who was in attendance. 'He’s always at the games,' she said. 'Very supportive.'

After Pine Crest got out to a quick 2-0 lead, Benjamin’s young coach called a timeout.

'I wanted to regain their composure, preaching they control the game because we are winning possessions of the draw,' Rose said. 'If they want to calm the game down and control the pace, we can dictate it. Sometimes we play better when we’re calm with a slower pace.'

That Benjamin is reputed for its good faceoff work made Pine Crest coach Demianne Cook’s ploy even more surprising.

With 4:30 left and trailing just 9-8, Pine Crest pulled its goalie and allowed Tuehey to score on an uncovered net just to force a faceoff.

The Pine Crest staff was aware Benjamin, in a win over Jensen Beach, had held onto the yellow ball for the final 7:30 to preserve a win.

Cook said afterward she feared Benjamin would run out the clock and her team would never regain possession, though a drizzle had the potential to make the sphere more slippery.

Roe called it 'very creative' and was honored she thought so highly of her team’s skill to not turn the ball over.

After the empty-net goal, Benjamin won the faceoff, then, ironically, committed a turnover. However, Pine Crest gave it right back.

Moments later, play was halted for the storm. Not only did Benjamin have possession but a man advantage because of a Pine Hill penalty — a stick to the head.

Even if play resumed, it was unlikely Pine Crest, would score two goals, though Lilli Forman (three goals, twp assists) was a lot to handle.

'I think this year we had to work together as much as we could and we really followed through with that,' Tigue said. 'Our seniors don’t want to lose. We put 100 percent into this game and we’ve come together as a team. Our chemistry was too good to give up.'

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Girls lacrosse: Benjamin braves monsoon for upset revenge vs. Pine Crest