As difficult as it is to win the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference lacrosse title, it’s even tougher to run the table in arguably the strongest girls lacrosse league in the country.

No. 1 McDonogh has a chance to do that for a second straight year as the Eagles look to defend their 2009 A Conference crown. Thursday’s 16-8 victory over No. 11 Liberty, paced by five points each from Taylor Cummings and Corinne Etchison, boosted the Eagles record to 17-0.

The Eagles have a bye in today’s first round of the A Conference tournament and will begin playoff action at home Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. against the winner of today’s game between Maryvale and St. Paul’s.

What’s driving McDonogh’s success? Certainly skill and speed and all the other assets you would expect to see on the field, but also depth that far surpasses opponents. And it doesn’t hurt to have 16 seniors.

“It starts with the Class of 2010, the senior class,” coach Chris Robinson said. “We’ve got 16 seniors, 14 of which came through our middle school, so they’ve been together a long time and they’ve really been a huge building block in our program. Even from a couple years ago when we really started to have some success, they were contributors as freshmen and sophomores.

“Their veteran experience really helped out this year, because we were the target of everybody from the beginning of the season on. Everybody brought their best against us and these guys were able to weather the storm and stay focused despite all the pressure of being No. 1 all year.”

A senior class led by All-Metro players Margaret Smith and Taylor Virden was buoyed by some exceptional underclassmen, including sophomores Cummings, Etchison and goalie Katie Ferraro. The Eagles have shown the consistency that put them in the championship game the last two years.

Not that the Eagles weren’t challenged this season. No. 3 Notre Dame Prep and No. 10 St. Mary’s pushed them to within one goal and the Eagles only beat No. 4 John Carroll by two.

“We went through a two-week stretch where it was tough, because we blew out so many teams early in the season and we hit a stretch of good competition with NDP, John Carroll and St. Mary’s,” Robinson said. “To get the momentum back that we had early in the season was tough, but we’re peaking right now at the right time at the playoffs. We have that same type of intensity and focus we had early in the season.”

This will be the 11th IAAM title contested and through the first 10 years, only one team has won with an overall unbeaten record – John Carroll, 18-0 in 2008. Last season, the Eagles came close but dropped one game to Canandaigua, N.Y. and finished 19-1. Since that loss last April, McDonogh is 29-1.

The future doesn't look too bad either considering the Eagles' junior varsity and freshman-sophomore teams finished their seasons undefeated.

This year’s IAAM championship game will be held at Gerstell Academy in Finksburg on May 15 at 3 p.m.