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Staying Composed: Western Albemarle girls hold off Monticello for conference title

Photo by Bart Isley

With an experienced roster including an array of offensive weapons, Western Albemarle’s girls lacrosse team has options down the stretch. That’s one reason the Warriors don’t panic in games like Monday’s up-and-down clash with Monticello in the Charlottesville Conference title game.

 

“I think we were really working to set each other up rather than being selfish,” said Western Albemarle’s Joie Funk. “Our coach had us saying that ‘winners know how to win’ and we took that to heart this game.”

 

Funk and the Warriors stayed composed down the stretch and held off a drastically improved Monticello squad for a 12-11 victory and the conference title.

 

“It has been a process we’ve been working on the entire season,” said Western coach Tara Hohenshelt. “We have a lot of talented, strong players and we talk everyday about the mental toughness side of it. We talk about focusing on the next play and hard work and hustle when things don’t go your way.”

 

It certainly wasn’t easy to maintain that composure with the way Monticello took the fight to the Warriors. Early in the season, the Mustangs fell 19-10 to the Warriors, then improved in a late April meeting, falling just 14-9. This time Monticello took Western to the wire. In fact, the Mustangs led 10-9 with 3:17 to play after a Paige McGlothlin goal.

 

“We took them down to the wire and while it hurts we’re hopefully going to see them again in the regional championship and that’s what I tried to instill in them at the end of the game,” said Monticello coach Trent Holden. “We’re getting better, we’re getting there. A couple of draws here and there change and that’s a different game.”

 

In the final two minutes, Anna Kreienbaum, Funk and Kira Repich scored with Repich scoring the go-ahead goal with just 28 seconds to play after the Mustangs’ Josie Mallory knotted the game at 11-11. Repich scored four goals for the Warriors, with three of the four coming after halftime.

 

“She really knows when to take it to goal and when to pull it out,” Funk said. “Her last goal I got a little nervous like ‘maybe we should pull it out’ but I just knew she was going to take it and that it was going in.”

 

Funk finished with a hat trick while Hanna Schuler and scored twice. Marlena Flynn, Kreienbaum and Bella Moriconi rounded out the Western scoring. Audrey Russell and Mady Starsia each had two assists. Catherine Adams finished with 10 saves for the Warriors.

 

A trio of Monticello players scored hat tricks in a balanced offensive performance, with McGlothlin, Mallory and Ari Archer each scoring three goals. Megan Wallin and Caleigh Smith each scored once and had an assist. Mallory had two assists and Carly Harris made 12 saves in the cage.

 

Western will face Hanover Wednesday at home in the Region 4A South tournament. The Mustangs will hit the road to play Midlothian Thursday or Friday.

 

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