CHESTER, Pa. — The California Palms played about forty-five good minutes on Saturday. The problem was the fifteen that came first.

The Maryland Charm scored seven goals in the opening quarter of the inaugural Women's Lacrosse League Championship at Subaru Park, and while the Palms eventually clawed all the way back to a 9-9 tie in the third, they never led again after scoring the first goal of the game. The Charm pulled away late to win 16-13 and claim the league's first title.

It was California's second loss to Maryland this season, and the second time they'd needed a comeback to make it close. The two teams were nearly even in shots, turnovers and draw control. The difference was that the Palms spent a quarter and a half figuring out how to play, and the Charm never gave the time back.

Ellie Masera scored 51 seconds in, and that was the only lead California would hold. Maryland answered with three straight, including a power play goal at 7:07, and from there the Palms were reacting.

Ally Mastroianni got one back on the man-up at 5:41 off a Marie McCool feed, and Anna Brandt cut it to 3-4 at 3:52 on McCool's second assist. But Maryland scored three more before the quarter ended, the last on a power play after Mastroianni was called for a cross-check. Sam Geiersbach scored with one second left off a Masera assist to make it 7-4.

Giving up seven goals in a quarter is bad against anyone. Giving up seven to a team that sat second in the league in scoring, when your own defense allowed the fewest goals in the WLL all season, is the whole game. Taylor Moreno made one save in those fifteen minutes. The Palms also took the penalties that let Maryland turn a close quarter into a comfortable one.

One oddity: Maryland draw specialist Sammy Jo Adelsberger was flagged for an illegal stick and had to use a loaner the rest of the way. She still went 8-for-15 at the circle.

Maryland scored twice more early in the second quarter, once at 9:31 and once on the power play at 3:57, to go up 9-4. That was their last goal of the half.

California scored the final three. Masera got her second at 3:16, Mastroianni her second at 2:19, and LoPinto finished a Geiersbach feed with 7.2 seconds on the clock. The Palms went to the break down 9-7, and for the first time all afternoon they looked like the team that had a league-dominating 20-score differential.

Moreno was a large part of that. After the first quarter she was excellent, finishing with 15 saves.

Brandt scored at 10:23 and again at 8:51 off Geiersbach to tie it 9-9. Across sixteen minutes of game time, California had scored five unanswered and completely erased the deficit.

Maryland took it back in under two minutes. Goals at 3:49, 2:02 and 1:50 put the Charm up 12-9, and the Palms didn't score again in the quarter. It was the same problem as the first: a short stretch where California stopped winning possessions, and a Charm offense that made every one of them count.

Brandt scored her third at 11:09 and LoPinto added another 20 seconds later off Masera, cutting it to 12-11 with eleven minutes left. Maryland answered at 7:04, Mastroianni answered right back at 6:56, and California trailed 13-12 with almost seven minutes to play.

They didn't get closer. The Charm scored at 5:03, 3:28 and 1:05 to go up 16-12. LoPinto completed her hat trick off a McCool assist with 30 seconds remaining to set the final score.

The box score doesn't look like a three-goal loss. California took 44 shots to Maryland's 47 and put 32 on goal to the Charm's 34. Turnovers were nearly identical at 17 and 18. The Palms actually won the draw, going 16-for-30 at 52 percent.

What they lost was the ball. Maryland picked up 50 ground balls to California's 42 and held possession for 24:46 to the Palms' 18:21 — more than six extra minutes. For a team trying to erase a deficit, that math doesn't work. You need two and three possessions in a row, and California mostly got one before having to defend again.

Maryland's goalies combined for 17 saves at 57 percent, with rookie Jenika Cuocco stopping nine at a 60 percent clip. Moreno's 15 saves came at 48 percent. Sydni Black won MVP with four goals and an assist, and Maryland took the trophy and the prize of an $80,000 championship bonus for each player.

None of this erases what California did over four regular-season games. They finished 3-1 and first in the league, scored more goals than anyone, allowed the fewest at 51, and posted a plus-20 goal differential that no other team came near. They opened with an 18-17 overtime loss to Maryland on May 29, beat Boston 17-15, handed previously unbeaten New York a 16-9 loss in their home debut at the University of San Diego, and closed the year with a 21-9 win over Boston that clinched the championship berth.

But the two games against Maryland followed the same script. Both times California fell behind, both times they came back, and both times they needed the last few minutes to go their way and didn't get them.

It also leaves the Palms as the only WLL franchise without a trophy, counting the Championship Series. Boston won the 2025 tournament, New York won it this February with a win over California in the final, and Maryland now owns the league's first true championship.

Masera called Saturday a full-circle moment on Friday, before any of it. "We started our season playing against them and ended up losing," she said, "so we have a great opportunity to right that wrong."

The Palms were good enough to. They just spent too much of the afternoon getting started.

Top Photo: Ellie Masera. Photo Credit: Miguel Mejia/Miguel Mejia Photography