.jpg)
Rockbridge County High School senior girls lacrosse player Libba Erskine is looking forward to continuing her athletic and academic career at the collegiate level.
Erskine, a midfielder for the Wildcats, signed her national letter of intent on Nov. 8 to play lacrosse for Division II school Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Fla. The signing took place at RC’s outdoor pavilion, with family members, coaches, administrators, teammates and friends in attendance.
Erskine, an all-region and all-state first team selection last spring and an all-region first team and all-state second team selection as a sophomore, has helped the Wildcats win three consecutive Region 4D titles. The Wildcats have also advanced to the Class 4 state semifinals the past three years, falling to Western Albemarle all three times. Last spring, the Wildcats went 16-2.
Before Erskine signed her letter, RC athletic director Adam Haynes read some of her accomplishments to the audience. Erskine played for the Valley Select team for two years before playing for the Yellow Jackets South team for four years. She played for the USA Virginia team in 2022.
During her high school career, Erksine has scored 30 goals, dished out 13 assists, won 49 draw controls, collected 55 ground balls and forced 34 caused turnovers.
Erskine has been working with RC head coach Susan Nye since sixth grade, when Erskine was playing with the Lex Lax Lighting, the local youth lacrosse program. Erskine moved up to the varsity level after starting with the junior varsity team as a freshman. Nye is getting ready for her sixth season as head coach.
Crediting Nye for the role she played in her career, Erskine said, “She’s the one that actually pushed me to play travel lacrosse, which really got me into it. It kind of opened my eyes, and I was like, I really like this, and I want to do this at a higher level. She’s really hard on me. She always pushes me to be better. She’s been a really big influence.”
Nye said she’s enjoyed seeing Erskine develop into a leader. “I got to see her evolve and grow,” said Nye. “Once she got into high school, she just took her excitement for lacrosse to another level. It’s exciting to see that she’s having that opportunity to play in college.”
Erskine, the daughter of Ben and Farrah Erksine, said playing in college “has been a really big dream for me for a really long time, and I’ve spent a lot of time and effort.”
“For a long time, I was basically staying in hotels every weekend for lacrosse tournaments and lacrosse camps,” added Erskine. “It’s been a lot leading up to this. It’s been a really big goal of mine, and it’s so meaningful to play in college and then go on to the next thing.”
She said she’s undecided on what she’ll study in college, but she’s considering agricultural business or marine biology.
Erskine said she chose Florida Southern because of the warm weather and the quality of the program. “It’s a really good team,” she said. “It has a really good possibility of winning a national championship. They do really well in their conference.”
Last spring, Florida Southern went 18-4 overall and 6-1 in the Sunshine State Conference, making it to the NCAA Division II national semifinals, where they fell to Pace 22-11.
Looking forward to her senior season with the Wildcats next spring, Erskine said, “We’ve had really good seasons. I’m hoping this year I can help play a bigger role to get us further than where we’ve gone and hopefully making it to that state [championship] game.”
