CARY - For the first half of Tuesday night’s Green Hope-Panther Creek girls lacrosse match, the Catamounts looked like an improving program ready to challenge one of the area’s traditional powers.

But that was before Green Hope reverted to form to turn a 3-3 first-half tie into a one-sided 12-3 victory.

“We had a tough first half, but we pulled it together in the second half,” said Green Hope senior Taylor Morrison, who finished the night with two goals and one assist. “We cleaned up our game. Our stick skills got better and we got to a lot more ground balls.”

Green Hope not only has tradition on its side, the Falcons have turned to a distinguished alum to maintain the program, Ashley Ruppert. The first-year head coach was a senior on Green Hope’s 2005 state championship team, which was the first of back-to-back titles for the Falcons.

“We’ve always been a strong program and having a new coach this year we were a little nervous,” Morrison said.

“But Ashley has done a great job and we’re excited to have her. Some of the girls knew that she had played at Green Hope and has some school records. We’re a young team with a lot of freshmen and sophomores, but she got us to count on each other early and to have confidence in each other.” Green Hope improved to 2-1 overall and 2-0 in Conference 2, while Panther Creek fell to 0-3 and 0-2.

Green Hope broke the halftime tie less than a minute into the second half on a goal by sophomore Kate Murphy. Morrison followed with a goal with 20:22 remaining and Murphy with another goal at the 19:26 mark for a sudden 6-3 lead.

Murphy finished the night with three goals and assist, while another sophomore, Julie Hagan, tallied three goals and two assists.

Green Hope’s scoring was rounded out by two goals and two assists from junior Campbell Stanley and two goals and one assist from freshman Mackenzie Koeller.

“In the second half we did a better job of trusting our teammates,” Ruppert said. “We were passing the ball and not trying to run it and force it . We had better communication. We’re a young team and they have to learn to trust each other.”

Although Ruppert is only six years removed from high school, she isn’t a rookie coach.

She was Middle Creek’s head coach for three years while finishing her degree at N.C. State. She took a year off from coaching last season and returned to the sidelines this year.

She has succeeded her Green Hope teammate and fellow co-captain, Chrissy Sibley, who left to take a coaching position in the United Kingdom.

“My goal is to bring [a state title] back to Green Hope,” said Ruppert. “I’m putting a lot of pressure on myself, but we have high expectations at Green Hope.”

In the competitive first half, Panther Creek’s Angelina Wu scored first for a 1-0 lead after less than six minutes. The Catamounts fell behind 2-1, but Rachel Ungaro scored to make it 2-2. Laurel Everett scored Panther Creek’s third goal with 5:25 left in the first half to forece another tie.

“We’ve been really working hard in practice,” said Ungaro, a sophomore. “We’ve been doing a lot of running and a lot of drills to improve our skills. Unfortunately the score didn’t show up, but we hope to do better next time.”