As the Coppell girls lacrosse team stepped on the field on Thursday night, a number flashed through their heads: eight. As they scored two goals within the first five minutes and fought their way through a comeback at halftime, their thoughts were the same: that magic eight.

As the Cowgirls scored two goals in the last minute of their Senior Night game against Allen at Lesley Field, there emerged that number again, now triumphant: eight.

Coppell beat Allen, 19-11, to cover the projected score differential that would put it in a position to get into a desirable bracket in the playoffs, one without the difficult teams they had dropped losses against in it.

“The stakes were high,” Coppell senior defender Claire Bryant said. “We wanted to honor the seniors and also secure the best spot for us in the future, putting us in a better position to not face certain teams, although we may still face them. We came together as a team and performed the way we needed to perform.”

From face-off, Coppell hit the ground in scoring mode. Two goals on the board within the first two minutes led the Cowgirls to a dominant first quarter. A lagging Allen used a breakaway and subsequent goal to get back in the match. Coppell faltered, and allowed the Lady Eagles to stay neck and neck until halftime.

“We just started focusing on things we didn’t need to focus on,” Coppell coach Logan Hendrick said. “Simple things like speakers not working, the field being switched from [Coppell Middle School North] to Lesley at the last minute, for a while it felt like calls weren’t going in our favor. It felt like everything was weighing on us and not working out for us to have this day be what we wanted it to be.” 

A halftime talk about togetherness from Hendrick centered the Cowgirls, who reigned over the second half, racing the clock to the last second for the eight goal differential.

“Allen is a very intense team, both players and coaches, and sometimes we get caught up in listening to things that don’t really need our attention,” Hendrick said. “Once we recentered, we went back to playing good Coppell lacrosse.”

The pressure of the ending of the regular season did not stop the Cowgirls from celebrating its Senior Night. Eleven seniors started the field, playing together for the first 10 minutes.

“Some of these girls have known each other for ten year and others have known each other for the past four,” Hendrick said. “I’m proud of them for bonding together and paving the way for everything that this program is and everything it will continue to be.”

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