RC Girls Laxers Blitz Glass, 20-2

Win Qualifies ‘Cats For Class 4 State Tournament

The Rockbridge County High School girls lacrosse team cruised to a 20-2 victory over E.C. Glass in the semifinals of the Region 4D tournament in Lexington on Tuesday of last week.

The victory qualified the Wildcats for the Class 4 state tournament for the fourth consecutive season. RC would go on to down Blacksburg 24-6 in the regional title game on Friday. (See separate story).

Anna Nye tallied five goals, one assist and 12 draw controls to pace the top-seeded ’Cats (15-1) in last Tuesday’s win over the fourth-seeded Hilltoppers (10-6). Josie Caldwell scored four times for RC, while Lola Mulitalo notched three goals and one assist, Ruby Goodhart bagged a hat trick, and Nala Shearer registered a goal and three assists.

Caldwell got RC on the board first, scoring from a Mulitalo assist at the 8:32 mark of the first quarter. After Stella Sexton leveled the score for Glass with 6:25 to go, the Wildcats quickly took over.

Nye won the ensuing draw, leading to the go-ahead goal for Mulitalo just 13 seconds after the Hilltoppers had tied things up. That keyed a 6-0 RC spurt to close out the quarter, featuring three player-up goals in the final 1:15 – including Nye’s buzzerbeater from a Shearer feed – following a Glass yellow card.

The Wildcats created further separation with an 8-0 blitz in the second quarter, getting two goals apiece from Nye, Mulitalo and Caldwell during the stanza to assume a commanding 15-1 halftime advantage.

RC has demonstrated its ability to distribute the ball on offense throughout the season, routinely racking up double-digit assist totals, and the Wildcats’ first four goals against the Hilltoppers were assisted. But once the ’Cats took control of the game, they began to focus on beating their defenders one-on-one, leading to several great individual goals.

“We’ve worked hard on being a feeding team, but we needed to diversify as we go into the state tournament,” RC head coach Susan Nye said. “I thought we had some really good taking-it-to-goal dodges, so I was glad to see them not just be a feeding team – but a dodging team, too.”

RC’s run continued with the first three markers of the second half, and a goal from Goodhart stretched the margin to 18-1 with 4:19 remaining in the third quarter. Sexton grabbed a second score for the Hilltoppers on an 8-meter chance inside the final minute of the frame, and fourth-period goals from Goodhart and Anna Nye created the final scoreline.

Maddie Dahl notched two goals and one assist for the Wildcats. Halina Homiak chipped in one goal and one assist, reaching 100 career points in the process, and she also snared four draws.

Libba Erskine paced the RC defense with three caused turnovers, and she also tallied one goal. Emily Humphreys made two saves in goal for the ’Cats during the first half, while Alyssa Hunter recorded four stops after the break.

Adison Tucker totaled eight saves for Glass, and Nora Hamilton had one assist and three draw controls.

Given how they dominated regional play during the regular season – including a 22-6 road victory over the Hilltoppers on March 21 – the Wildcats were heavy favorites to win last Tuesday. Still, advancing to the state tournament for the fourth straight season isn’t something that Coach Nye and her team were taking for granted.

“It is hard when you play a team the second time. I think they knew if you lose, you go home,” Coach Nye said. “That adds a different level when we get to this point in the season.”