RC Girls Trounce JF, Advance

Shearer Records 100th Assist, 200th Point In 20-3 Win

Dominating from start to finish, the Rockbridge County High School girls lacrosse team cruised to a 20-3 home win over Jefferson Forest in the Region 4D quarterfinals on Saturday afternoon in Lexington.

Winning their 12th consecutive game, the top-seeded Wildcats (13-1) raced to a 3-0 lead just over a minute into the game and never looked back, using their speed, athleticism and power to take a 10-1 lead by the end of the first quarter. Once the Wildcats went up 11-1 early in the second quarter, the teams played with a running clock for the rest of the game due to the 10-goal lead. At halftime, RC led 15-1.

Madison Weaver made nine saves for the eighth-seeded Cavaliers (4-10), helping the visitors limit the Wildcats to five goals in the second half.

RC head coach Susan Nye acknowledged Weaver played well, but she added, “We’ve got to work on our placement of shots. That’s something we’ve been working on all season.”

The game was similar to the regular-season meeting between the two teams on April 17 in Lexington, when the Wildcats won 19-2.

In the rematch, Ruby Goodhart and Halina Homiak led RC with four goals each, while Nala Shearer and Maddie Dahl each scored three goals. Contributing two goals each were Josie Caldwell, Lola Mulitalo and Anna Nye.

Shearer and Mulitalo led the Wildcats with four assists each. In the first quarter, Shearer, a senior attacker, dished out her 100th career assist and recorded her 200th career point.

Homiak had three assists, while Nye dished out two.

Nye led RC with nine draw controls and five caused turnovers, while Dahl won eight draw controls. Nye and Tadara Cooper each collected three ground balls.

Emily Humphreys played the first half in goal for the Wildcats, collecting three ground balls. Alyssa Hunter replaced her in the second half and made four saves.

Scoring one goal each for JF were Emily Bobbitt, Bailey English and Avery Mahland.

Reviewing her team’s performance, Coach Nye said, “We came in a little bit tight in the beginning because we’re trying to, especially off the draw, to become quicker and more efficient, so that’s something we’re working on all season because we do have some really fast girls with some great stick skills.”

The Wildcats, striving to win their fourth consecutive Region 4D title this week, were scheduled to play host to E.C. Glass in the Region 4D semifinals last night, with the winner advancing to the regional championship game on Friday.

For the result and a summary of last night’s game, along with the postseason schedule and updates, visit www.thenewsgazette. com.