‘This is what we do:' Good Counsel girls win fourth straight WCAC lacrosse title

Good Counsel girls' lacrosse coach Michael Haight had four points he wanted to emphasize before his team's Washington Catholic Athletic Conference championship appearance Monday. Effort, trust and communication were the first three.
The last one he forgot for a second, but quickly remembered it was 'dreams.' The coach wanted his group to be in its opponents' heads.
'We like being in people's nightmares,' Haight said with a smile. 'You see us here every year. You know you're going to get the best that we got come Championship Monday.'
Facing St. John's in the final for a second straight year, the Falcons ambushed the Cadets. Six different Falcons scored a goal in the first six minutes of the game, creating a nightmarish start for the title challengers.
The Falcons coasted to a double-digit lead by halftime and never looked back, earning to their fourth consecutive WCAC title, 14-7, at Georgetown's Cooper Field.
'They get it,' Haight said. 'They shine the brightest when the lights are the brightest. They always have. They all played their role today, and that's really what propelled us.'
When it comes to WCAC competition, the team's seniors will graduate knowing only one thing: winning. The 10 seniors on this roster went four years without a conference loss. The program's last defeat against a WCAC opponent came in 2019.
After an early rough patch where it lost three consecutive games in mid-March, Good Counsel (18-3) closed the season winners of 17 straight. They scored 12 or more goals in 16 of those games. They scored 20-plus goals in six of them.
'We don't look at the past, we only look ahead,' Haight added. "If we fall down, we're going to fall forward. If we can get up, we're going to look up, we're going to go. Those games propelled us to what we are today. They kept grinding."
Five different Falcons scored two goals apiece in the first half against the Cadets (12-8). The Falcons were aggressive on both ends, refusing to shy away from contact on defense. It took a little over 10 minutes for St. John's to find the back of the net and the Cadets had just two goals at halftime.
Good Counsel seniors Carys Volley, Ava Grandi and Dani Serrano, and juniors Ashlyn Gallagher and Annabelle Walsh each had multi-goal games. Walsh led all scorers with four goals.
'We've been playing well as a team,' Walsh said during the postgame celebration. 'When the team plays well, I play well too because we all feed into each other. It feels really good. We really played like a team today and it [helped] me.'
When the final horn sounded, the Good Counsel bench flocked to the goal as the Falcons crowd started to chant 'four-peat.' As Haight and the team posed for a picture with the championship trophy, the coach marked the moment with five simple words.
'This is what we do.'
The program will enter next year with the same target that has been on its back for some time. Haight said he expects to reload and hopes to keep the championship streak alive.
It's something he thinks can be accomplished because of how hungry his players continue to be. They all play club lacrosse, as well as various fall sports before offseason workouts begin in November. By that time, they have an appetite for success.
'Our roster is built on classes not being too dominant," Haight said. 'We know we have a lot of talented kids that didn't necessarily get in today. When they get their chance, they're going to be ready.'

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