Stories

Array of Weapons: STAB girls lacrosse’s offense explodes in state quarterfinals

Photo by Jack Isley

 

Just a few short days ago, St. Anne’s-Belfield pulled out a close, two-goal win to capture the LIS championship against Collegiate. 

 

Tuesday, in the teams’ fourth meeting this season, the Saints didn’t leave any room for error. 

 

STAB’s offense exploded for a 17-4 blowout win over the Cougars with Mia Maurer and Raleigh Foster each notching four goals on the afternoon. 

 

“This is the fourth time we’ve played this team this season and it was a lot and our last game was really close so we were a little bit nervous but we knew we were fully prepared,” said STAB senior Tilly Matheson. “We’ve really worked so hard this season to get into this place.”

 

That preparation showed as STAB was methodical, efficient and explosive on offense all at the same time.

 

While teams may try and rightfully focus on locking up sophomore LIS player of the year Martha Oakey (one goal) and junior UVa commit Addi Foster (two goals and an assist), it’s becoming an approach that doesn’t work particularly well because players all over STAB’s young roster are stepping up. One of those is freshman Brynn Pemberton who was on fire Tuesday, notching a hat trick while also dishing out four assists for the Saints. 

 

“Brynn was awesome this game,” Matheson said. “She started the season as not a starter and she worked her way up to being a starter and we always say that Brynn is the safest player we have, she’s smart and she thinks about all her decisions and we love having her on the attacking side of the field.”

 

Combine that kind of improvement with the unselfish approach of the Saints’ most dynamic players of Oakey, Foster and the rest of Saints’ top threats and suddenly the Saints become one of the state’s most dangerous offensive teams. 

 

The Saints exploited matchups all day, with Lellie King (two goals) and Maurer taking advantage of their height, but they also trusted the offense and created good open shot after good open shot with some excellent passing. 

 

Matheson is one of just a handful of upperclassmen on the squad, but it’s clear that being a leader for a team packed with young talent hasn’t been a challenge.

 

“It’s been awesome being captain of this team, it’s a super young team but everyone fights, I’ve never been on a team that tries so hard and works so hard and everyone loves each other so much,” Matheson said. “Honestly they’ve made my job so easy.”

 

STAB was strong on the draw too, pulling in 15 draw controls to Collegiate’s 8 and the Saints took care of the ball too with just four turnovers on the day. Hayden Booth finished with three saves in the cage.

 

Now No. 3-ranked STAB will hit the road for the state semifinals where they’ll square off with Bishop Ireton for a shot at the state championship game. 

 

Comments

comments