By Betsy Haugh / Scrimmageplaycva.com contributor
After meeting less than two weeks ago to decide the West Central Division championship, the Albemarle and Western Albemarle girls lacrosse squads reunited Monday night to battle it out for the sectional title. In their fourth meeting of the year, Western Albemarle came out on top, using a strong second half to capture a 13-8 win and the sectional championship.
“It’s particularly exciting because of the rivalry and how we’ve been back to back all season,” said Western Albemarle head coach Nancy Haws. “What I’m most proud of is the team effort. I think if you watched the game and you saw how many substitutions were going on and how many players were contributing, that’s the part of the game that’s always most exciting for a coach to see.”
The divisional matchup between the two teams ended in overtime, and Monday’s first half of action left fans feeling a similar outcome may be in store.
Western Albemarle senior Mady Baker opened the scoring just two minutes and 35 seconds into the game before Albemarle’s Connor Carson answered with 19:55 remaining in the half. Less than 30 seconds later, Carson’s teammate Kirsten Mendelsohn put the Patriots on top with her lone goal of the evening.
Western Albemarle answered with three straight goals from Baker, junior Bridget Shaffrey, and senior Katie Lesemann before Carson notched her second goal of the game. Baker tallied her third goal just minutes later to give the Warriors a 5-3 lead.
“We just knew we had to come out strong, and so we just tried to do whatever worked,” Baker said.
The two sides traded goals twice more in the half, as Albemarle’s Mai Toms scored only to be answered by a Shaffrey strike, and Carson netted her third goal before Lesemann scored her second for Western.
With the score sitting at 7-5, Albemarle rallied for two goals within the last 2:17 of the half to secure a tie game at the break. A beautiful assist from Ryann Murray allowed Hannah Chaps to pull the Patriots within one before Murray herself scored with one minute remaining in the half.
The second half, however, proved to be nothing like the first, as Western Albemarle outscored the Patriots 6-1 in the half including two quick goals right after the break.
“At halftime we just got really pumped up. Albemarle is in our district and they already beat us two times, and we just really wanted to beat them the fourth time (we played them) and we were just feeling it tonight,” said Western Albemarle senior Alora Henry.
Haws attributed her team’s second-half success to getting back to the basics.
“Being it was 7-7, it was like, here’s a brand new half, let’s just do it, and we really focused on the basics.”
The Western Albemarle offensive outburst was also fueled by strong defensive play, as goalkeeper Maya Langman handled the Albemarle attack confidently.
“Basically really what I was doing was watching ball, ball, ball, ball, ball, repeating it over and over in my head, and just keeping up the talk,” Langman said. “I think I was just knowing where to look, knowing where to step. Stepping sooner instead of waiting for a ball, stepping up to it and knocking it down.”
The heartbreak was evident for Albemarle following the loss.
“We didn’t play our best game. There’s just not a whole lot you can say when you just can’t seem to get into a groove,” said head coach Laurie Pratt.
Both teams advance to the state tournament beginning Saturday June 2.
“We need to just get back into the lacrosse we were playing last week. This is a very talented team, and they’ve got a lot of drive, and we’re just going to reconnect with that for the state tournament,” Pratt said.
