Western Albemarle’s practices have had a particular focus the last few weeks — transitioning the ball from the defensive end to attack.
“That’s all we’ve been practicing this week,” said Western Albemarle senior defender Alora Henry. “We’ve been focusing a lot on transition. We’re trying to get everyone to cut back more because a lot of times we’re coming up field and it looks like there’s no one to pass it to. We’ve been working on that.”
Honing in on one of the major problems that plagued the Warriors during a frustrating stretch earlier this season where Western lost back-to-back games to Albemarle and Monticello is paying huge dividends in the playoffs. Saturday the Warriors parlayed that improved transition play and a resurgent offense into a state final four berth as Western topped Forest Park 12-9 to win in the state girls lacrosse quarterfinals.
Henry, a shutdown defender, has expanded her game of late to kickstart the Western transition that has, in turn set the stage for an offensive rhythm that the Warriors didn’t have early in the year.
“It’s about controlling the momentum of the game, controlling what plays we’re going to set up,” said Western coach Nancy Haws. “Because it’s all on the defensive end it starts everything, but you don’t notice it.”
The increased opportunities on the offensive end have allowed the Warriors to get more comfortable as players like Bridget Shaffrey, Katie Lesemann and Peyton Brandt have figured out exactly how to work together. Saturday they put together an effort that looked strikingly similar to what worked against Patrick Henry in the section semifinals and Albemarle in the finals with Shaffrey drawing attention with aggressive play and some early scoring while the savvy senior Lesemann picks her spots and Brandt quarterbacks the offense from behind the cage.
“Now we’re finding where we all belong,” Shaffrey said. “If I had to put any one down there (behind goal) it would be Peyton. She knows how to read the field, she knows how to pass it and she knows how to manipulate the plays.”
Shaffrey finished with four goals and two assists. Brandt notched a hat trick to go with an assist and Lesemann tallied three goals of her own to handle the bulk of the scoring.
Mady Baker and Becca Moriconi’s goals rounded out the offensive effort.
Defensively, Maya Langaman came up with 13 saves.
Western jumped ahead of the Bruins during a critical first half stretch, erasing an early 3-2 lead for Forest Park with four-straight goals that helped put the Warriors up 8-5 at halftime. The scoring slowed down after the break, until the Warriors got into gear and built a 12-6 advantage. Forest Park started chipping away in the closing minutes, but couldn’t generate enough offense to severely cut into the lead.
With the win, the Warriors earn their toughest test of the year Tuesday in the state semifinals when Western clashes with Oakton, who trounced Loudoun County 20-2 in the state quarterfinals. The state semifinal contest is slated for a 7:30 start at Westfield High.
