By the end, Meghan Bauer barely bothered to celebrate after scoring.

Look closely and you might have seen the junior midfielder nod her head, crack a small smile or, if she was feeling particularly expressive, bump fists with a teammate.

Score seven goals in a single game, as Bauer did for No. 1-ranked Blake in its 19-8 triumph over No. 9 Lakeville North on Wednesday, May 11, and low-key becomes the preferred post-goal personality.

“There’s an understated sense of accomplishment,” Blake coach Laura Mark said after the defending state champion Bears improved to 8-0. “But there isn't anybody who plays lacrosse who doesn’t love to score goals.”

Bauer, who led the state in scoring last season with 114 points, also had four assists against the Panthers and now has 58 points this season to rank among the state’s top-10 scorers.

“She’s grown by leaps and bounds, clearly,” Mark said about Bauer, whose 40 goals also rank her among the state’s top 10.

Bauer didn’t start playing lacrosse until she was in the sixth grade. As an eighth-grader, she tried out for the Blake varsity. Bauer didn’t make the squad.

“She sat in my office afterwards and said, ‘I know I didn’t deserve to make the team. What can I do? What can I do to get better?’ ” Mark said. “I always say, 'I wish I knew what I told her,’ because I would bottle it.”

Along with several other Blake starters, Bauer was watching the game from the sideline for the final 7 minutes. It wasn’t the first time this season the Bears have called in the reserves early. They have won all but one of their games by nine or more goals.

“We love when we get to play the better teams in the state,” said Bauer, who in January committed to play at Harvard.

Lakeville North, which lost to Blake in the state tournament semifinals last season, traded goals with the Bears in the early going and trailed 4-3 with 14:21 left in the first half.

Blake used an 8-0 run spanning the late stages of the first half and the first few minutes of the second half to put the game out of reach. Bauer scored three of her goals during the run.

“She really loves the game of lacrosse,” Mark said. “She is a student of the game. She watches film, she travels in the summertime to the East Coast. She decided this was her thing, and she went after it.”

Mark said she was tall and “lanky” as a sixth-grader just starting to get serious with the sport.
 
“I really love it, so I just kept working at it,” she said. “It’s something that’s easy for me to do all the time because I like it so much.”

1. Meghan Bauer, Blake
Hmmmm. Bauer, a junior midfielder, scored seven goals an added four assists. Doing the math … that’s an 11-point night and a performance that made her a case-hardened steel lock for the No. 1 star.

2. Lydia Sutton, Blake
Sutton is just a freshman, but she played with the poise and pizzazz of a veteran. She scored four goals and added an assist.

3. Kacie Waagbo, Lakeville North
Waagbo, a freshman, showed a knack for sliding into open areas around the crease and a great scoring touch once she had the ball. She finished with three goals and an assist.

Meghan Bauer scored seven goals and added four assists as the undefeated and No. 1-ranked Blake girls breezed past No. 9 Lakeville 19-8 on Wednesday, May 11, in a rematch of last year’s state tournament semifinals.

Bauer, a junior who has committed to play at Harvard, scored three of her goals during an 8-0 Blake run that began with 8:45 left in the opening half and ended when Lakeville North finally halted the scoring drought just less than 5 minutes into the first half.

Much of the second half was played under running time as Blake enjoyed a 10-goal or more lead.

With several Bears starters already on the sideline, Bauer exited the game with more than 7 minutes remaining and didn’t return.

Senior Hillary Crowe and freshman Lydia Sutton each scored four goals for the Bears (8-0).

Freshman Kacie Waagbo scored three goals and sophomore Hannah Koloski added two for the Panthers (6-3).