Lady Purples fall short in state tournament against Manual

Published 10:08 am Thursday, May 15, 2025

1/20

Bowling Green senior Kaidence Dunagan (23) and sophomore Piper Boyd (12) hug as the Lady Purples lose 10-8 to the DuPont Manual Lady Crimsons in the first round of the KHSAA Girls’ State Lacrosse tournament at Bowling Green Junior High School on Wednesday, May 14, 2025. GRACE MCDOWELL / BOWLING GREEN DAILY NEWS

Bowling Green ran out of rallies against DuPont Manual on Wednesday in a KHSAA Girls’ Lacrosse State Tournament first-round game.

The Lady Purples twice fell behind by as many as five goals, only to rally back to within one in the fourth quarter before ultimately falling 10-8 at Bowling Green Junior High School.

The defeat ended a stellar season for the Lady Purples, who tallied a 14-2 record and won the Region 1 tournament.

“We gave it our all and left it all out there,” Bowling Green coach Lisa Correa said. “We didn’t execute great at the very end on offense. That team was holding at the end. It’s tough when you’ve played a whole game to try to narrow that down and get possession. We got a possession, but we had a little mishap. I’m just proud of the way we battled. I thought we were right there, could have gone either way.”

DuPont Manual (10-10) stretched its lead to 9-4 in the third quarter on a goal by Audrey Donaldson, but the Lady Purples rallied with back-to-back goals from Macy Lindsey to trim the deficit to three goals heading into the final 12 minutes.

Bowling Green, which outshot the Lady Crimsons in every quarter, kept up the pressure in the fourth. Eva McCay’s goal off a run through the middle came just 12 seconds into the fourth, then Katie-Blair White scored her third goal of the night off a quick restart opportunity.

White’s goal with 7:25 to play got the Lady Purples back within a goal at 9-8, but Manual’s Morgan Schmidt gave her team breathing room just 21 seconds later with a goal.

Bowling Green kept pushing the attack, but a two-minute penalty with less than three minutes to play left the Lady Purples short-handed over the final stretch.

“We kept working and they gave it their all,” Correa said. “They never quit and that’s all you can ask. I just feel like a few possessions, we kind of got away from what we like to do and might have just been trying to push it too hard and playing a little bit outside of ourselves. But as far as effort and grit, I’m super proud of these players.”

The Lady Crimsons, the Region 2 runner-up, looked in control early with three goals in the first six minutes of the game. Samantha Haden struck first with 10:10 to go in the opening quarter, then Jasmine Smith and Hayden Moore each tallied a goal to put Manual up 3-0 with 6:34 left in the first.

White got her first goal off a quick restart play with 5:18 to go, then scored another off Lindsey’s assist just 18 seconds later as the Lady Purples drew closer.

Manual surged again in the second quarter with four straight goals — one each by Ava Schickel, Haden, Smith and Schmidt — to build a 7-2 advantage.

Again, Bowling Green clawed back with two goals in a 10-second span — Piper Boyd got the first with a dazzling run for an unassisted score, then Lindsey scored another with 1:14 to go.

Leading 7-4 coming out of halftime, Manual again dominated the start of the quarter with goals by Haden and Donaldson pushing its lead back out to five at 9-4. From there, the Lady Purples charged back to get within one before ultimately coming up short.

Haden scored three goals to lead the Lady Crimsons, with Smith chipping in with two.

White and Macy Lindsey had three goals each to lead the Lady Purples. BG goalkeeper Abby Lindsey finished with four saves.

“We did well,” Correa said. “We brought in a lot of new players. We graduated a big group and a lot of people thought we were going to be down this year. Some other kids stepped in and did well.”