During most of 2015, Western Albemarle’s boys lacrosse team has shown a knack for getting on a roll. For popping in a few goals and either taking the lead or blowing the game open. Saturday at Liberty University in the Group 4A state final against Loudoun Valley, Western made a handful of those kind of runs, but each time the Warriors got close, Loudoun Valley found a way to answer, winning 15-10 to wrap up a state championship.
“We were just trying to ride on the momentum and it was back and forth, just scoring in spurts,” said Western junior defender Oliver Herndon. “I guess they had the last one.”
Western struggled to clamp down on the Vikings’ Sully Warner/Mikey Shouse combination defensively. Shouse exploded for seven goals while Warner scored twice and dished out five assists, with several of them going to Shouse.
Shouse played a big role in getting Loudoun Valley back in the game after the Warriors took a 3-2 lead in the first quarter. Loudoun exploded for six second quarter goals to take an 8-4 lead into halftime, but Western snagged a bit of the momentum at the end of that half when Herndon scored a longstick fastbreak goal with under three seconds in the half.
That momentum boost carried over into the the second half and Western narrowed the gap to 9-7 going into the fourth quarter when Carter Elliott scored back-to-back goals late in the third frame to narrow the lead. Going into the fourth, Western seemed poised to get the Vikings reeling, but Loudoun Valley refused to relent and reeled off 6-1 run to start the fourth and essentially put the game out of reach. Western scored a pair of late back-to-back goals, but Loudoun Valley kept winning face-offs to prevent a huge late surge by the Warriors. Loudoun Valley held a 19-9 advantage on faceoffs for the game.
Elliott finished with a hat trick and an assist. Herndon scored twice on fastbreaks and Luke Reilly finished with a goal an assist. Western keeper Jackson Sours had a monster game against a barrage of shots from Loudoun Valley, finishing with 23 saves while saving 61 percent of the shots he faced. Sours helped set the the tone in the first quarter that led to that early Western lead by making a diving save back across the crease.
Despite the frustrating finish, it’s clear Western knows what a strong run they put in just to reach the team’s first ever VHSL state final.
“We had an awesome season, our seniors were awesome this year and we played as a team,” Herndon said. “ It doesn’t get much better than that.”
