RC Girls Laxers Roll On

Wildcats End Regular Season On 11-Game Streak

The Rockbridge County High School girls lacrosse team capped off the regular season with a pair of dominant home wins last week, routing Cave Spring 20-3 and defeating William Byrd 19-1.

The Wildcats (12-1) were slated to play host to Jefferson Forest in the Region 4D quarterfinals at home on Saturday.

Last Wednesday, RC celebrated Senior Night by cruising past the Terriers for an 18-goal win.

Nala Shearer tallied two goals and four assists, and three other ’Cats recorded five points apiece: Maddie Dahl had four goals and one assist, Anna Nye contributed three goals and two helpers, and Lola Mulitalo finished with two goals and three assists. Libba Erskine also posted a hat trick for RC.

The Wildcats got off to a near-perfect start, scoring on their first eight shot attempts of the game. Dahl’s goal from a Shearer assist made it 8-0 less than seven minutes into the opening period.

Byrd (4-10) did not possess the ball at all during that stretch. Nye collected seven of the first eight draws – she finished with 14 draw controls for the game – and she repeatedly won the draw to herself without any assistance from the other players on the circle.

“We’ve been working for years on trying to get the draw to be much more efficient,” RC head coach Susan Nye said. “It’s also, as soon as they get the draw, making that good pass and being able to just quickly and efficiently score.”

The Wildcats extended their lead to 10-0 by the end of the opening quarter and 15-0 at halftime. RC proceeded to tally the first three goals of the third period before Annika Hylton got the Terriers on the board from a Katelynn Franks assist inside the final minute. Erskine’s third marker of the night provided the only scoring in the fourth quarter.

Ciara Staton chipped in two goals and one assist for the Wildcats, while Halina Homiak posted a goal and a pair of assists. Josie Caldwell notched one goal and one helper, and Dahl added three draw controls and three caused turnovers.

Prior to the contest, RC honored its six-player senior class: Dahl, Erskine, Homiak, Shearer, Staton and Hallie Darmante. Three of those Wildcats will continue their lacrosse careers at the collegiate level – Dahl at Berry College, Erskine at Florida Southern College and Homiak at Muhlenberg College – while Shearer plans to play volleyball at Gettysburg College and Darmante will join the STUNT team at Randolph College.

Nye has coached several of those seniors going back to their days in the Lex Lax youth program in third or fourth grade.

“To be part of a young woman’s life all the way through into their high school [years] – it’s absolutely an incredible experience as a coach, being able to watch them grow and mature, and find a love of the game that I also love,” the RC coach said.

RC 20, CS 3

RC rolled to a 20-3 victory over Cave Spring in Lexington on Monday of last week.

Mulitalo totaled four goals and four assists, notching her 100th career goal in the process, while Nye tallied 13 draw controls to surpass the 100-draw mark for her freshman season.

Erskine recorded four goals for the Wildcats. Nye also contributed three goals, two assists and two caused turnovers, and Ruby Goodhart registered three goals and one assist.

Nye secured the first six draws of the game, and RC quickly cashed in on the attacking end. Goodhart completed her hat trick within the first 10 minutes of action, and the Wildcats led 7-0 by the end of the first quarter.

RC extended its advantage to 11-0 before Charley Fetzer scored for the Knights (9-4) with 1:18 to play in the first half.

The ’Cats stretched the margin even further with a 5-0 scoreline in the third quarter, and Mulitalo bagged her 100th goal with just over a minute remaining in the period. Lilly Swanson and Holly Enyart netted goals for Cave Spring in the final frame, but four more RC markers – including two from Josie Caldwell – produced the 20-3 final.

With the Wildcats’ recent run of success, milestones are nothing new for the program. Still, having a sophomore score 100 goals and a freshman collect 100 draws is more than a little noteworthy.

“It’s incredible, knowing some of the players that have graduated before them,” coach Nye said. “For Lola Mulitalo to get 100 goals [by] her sophomore season… I’m just so excited to see what she’s going to do the next two years.

“Having Anna Nye getting 100 draws – as a freshman, we’ve never had that before,” the RC coach added. “And we’ve had some really good draw specialists.”