Charlottesville’s girls lacrosse team has been making small strides all year. But Jayme Kusyk thinks Tuesday night’s narrow 16-15 win over Monticello was a major leap forward.
“I think this was the dam breaking,” Kusyk said.
The Black Knights certainly played every role against the Mustangs. They built a sizeable halftime lead at 11-5, then withstood a Monticello rally that tied the game at 13-13 and again at 15-15. They refused to get rattled, with Rivers Frazier streaking to goal for the gamewinner with a little more than a minute to play. The shot dribbled in after a save attempt.
Frazier’s final goal — she finished with three goals and three assists on the night — punctuated a complete game effort by the Black Knights. Charlottesville coach Lauren Thraves called it her team’s most disciplined effort to date.
“We weren’t making silly fouls and for the most part they made smart decisions on when to look for the shot,” Thraves said.
Kusyk powered much of that effort, playing a role in 11 of the Black Knights’ 16 goals. She notched seven goals and four assists on the night, capitalizing on an increasing number of capable, competent scorers in the lineup for the Black Knights.
“Other people are starting to get good looks because teams are picking up on her,” Thraves said. “Early on she got doubled so she started dumping it to other people and got a couple of assists.”
Monticello’s rally in the second half was stunning as the Mustangs erased a six-goal deficit to tie the game. Summer Larese played a big role in that comeback, leading Monticello with eight goals on the night. Bailey Mincer notched four goals while Sydney Larese had a hat trick. But it wasn’t enough to bring the Mustangs back after they dug the hole before the break.
“They have some really quick players and its tough to pick them up in transition,” said Monticello coach Karen Redd. “When they win the draw control and skip two passes (because of their quickness) and make a shot there’s not too much you can do to stop that. We just couldn’t make the connections on attack that we needed to at the time (to counter CHS’s attack).”
The Black Knights’ win avenged an earlier season two-goal overtime loss to the Mustangs. Both squads are battling it out behind Albemarle and Western Albemarle in the West Central Division.
