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Was 2023 the most successful season ever for local varsity lacrosse teams?
Consider the evidence: the Rockbridge County High School girls advanced to their third straight Class 4 state semifinal. Both Washington and Lee squads made NCAA Tournament runs and set or tied program standards for victories.
Meanwhile, a young RC boys team earned a road postseason victory and finished with a winning record. Both Southern Virginia squads advanced to their respective conference championship games. And VMI recorded its most wins in 15 years.
In short, there was an awful lot for area high school and college fans to root for this spring.
The recent run for the Wildcat girls’ team is undoubtedly the best in the Virginia High School League era – while RC had some powerhouse teams around the turn of the century, the VHSL didn’t sponsor the sport until 2006 – and possibly for any sport in the three-decade history of the high school.
Under the direction of Susan Nye, the Wildcats have put together a 40-5 record over the past three seasons, claiming three Region 4D championships and advancing to the Class 4 semifinals in each of those years. Western Albemarle, which just captured its first state title, is responsible for all five of RC’s defeats since 2021.
The Wildcats are having an impact at the next level, too. Recent alumnae Emily Ackerman (York) and Maelyn Eversole (Christopher Newport) just made Division III postseason appearances, while Kendall Nye plays for Liberty and Jenna Entsminger competes for Bridgewater.
Three of the star seniors from this year’s team will play collegiately as well: goalie Rachel Hines is set to join Nye at Liberty, her sister McKenzie Hines is off to Radford, and Lexie Polly will compete for the University of Lynchburg.
And the Wildcats’ run may well continue past this spring: six all-region performers will return next year, while the incoming freshman class is rife with talent.
The RC boys finished 9-7 overall with an underclassman- heavy roster. The Wildcats played most of the spring with just two active seniors, but they still managed to close the regular season on a threegame winning streak.
Robert Hull’s charges then recorded a 9-3 road victory over Jefferson Forest in the Region 4D quarterfinals before falling to top seed Cave Spring in the semifinal round. The ’Cats will miss those two seniors – Colby Jarvis will play for Bridgewater, while River Hull has committed to Guilford – but there are plenty of building blocks for 2024 and beyond.
National success is nothing new for W&L, but 2023 was nevertheless noteworthy. Gene McCabe guided the men’s team to its first Division III quarterfinal appearance in 19 years, setting a school record with 18 victories and snagging the program’s 12th Old Dominion Athletic Conference crown.
Not to be outdone, the W&L women spent most of the season near the top of the national polls, including a long run at No. 2 in the Division III coaches’ rankings. (That will happen when you beat four other Top 10 teams along the way.) The Generals won an astounding 13th consecutive ODAC title and matched the school record for victories, finishing 19-2 overall.
This all came in the first year for head coach Maddie Coleman, a 2008 RC graduate who won a national championship as a player for Gettysburg College. Coleman took over for Brooke O’Brien and hit the ground running.
Both SVU teams finished as the runner-up in the USA South. The women suffered two narrow 11-10 losses to conference powerhouse Meredith, including in the USA South final. But given that the Avenging Angels – a nickname too good not to include here – beat the Knights 17-4 in last year’s championship contest, things seem to be trending in the right direction for Rainey Whitworth’s program.
The SVU men rather quietly captured the school’s first conference title in 2022. In a rematch of last year’s championship bout, Pfeiffer avenged its defeat with a 12-9 victory to deny a repeat for Jason Lamb’s team.
The only local varsity squad that didn’t finish above .500 this year was VMI. But context is everything here: the Keydets’ 6-9 record marked the most victories for the program since 2008.
Returning to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference after the Southern Conference dropped men’s lacrosse, VMI nearly qualified for the postseason; only a heartbreaking 14-13 home loss to Quinnipiac in the penultimate regular-season game kept the Keydets out of the MAAC Tournament. Yet much like the RC boys, James Purpura’s VMI squad was heavily populated by freshmen and sophomores.
There’s one more key piece to the puzzle: youth lacrosse numbers for the Lex Lax Lightning program haven’t quite recovered from pre-pandemic levels. The opportunities are there for local boys and girls, and Lex Lax alumni have propelled the Wildcats to their recent successes. Hopefully, young athletes around Rockbridge County are taking notice.
Given the quality of coaches and players for the area’s varsity teams, there’s no reason to believe that 2023 will be a flash in the pan. With local squads making deep postseason runs, setting program records and building for the future, things might just be getting started.
