Albemarle’s girls lacrosse’s defenders look extremely comfortable working together.They don’t work as four individuals, they operate as a unit.
“Even if we’re not talking, it’s almost second nature when we do something, we know what our next move needs to be,” said senior Gwen Pattison.
The Patriots got things in gear offensively early and the defense locking down North Stafford, that was enough to roll to a 15-2 victory in the North/West Conference semifinals, earning a berth in the Region 5A South playoffs.
The Patriots’ chemistry on the defensive end didn’t happen overnight, it was forged over several seasons, giving Albemarle a strong backbone.
“All of us have been playing together for so long, Jane (Pinnata) has been on the team since she was a freshman and Brittany (Cramer) and I were on the team when she first came on,” Pattison said. “(Plus freshman) Bridget (Pinnata) is Jane’s sister so they’ve been playing together as long as they can remember so we just know each other really well.”
That’s given the Patriots a strong foundation and with the offense exploding this year, Albemarle been balanced, with solid play all over the field. That was certainly the case against North Stafford as Morgan Rose led the offense with five goals while Angie Chapman and Caroline Littman each scored twice. Six other Patriots scored a goal each including defenders Olivia Serbati and Bridget Pinnata who got in on the offensive action. Goalie Caroline Sheppard finished with six saves on the night.
The Patriots’ defenders combined for 10 ground balls and four total forced turnovers, clamping down on North Stafford. Albemarle pressured the Wolverines into some bad shots and kept them out of system for most of the contest.
Going forward, it’ll get a little tougher for the Patriots to do that as they square off against the best squads Group 5A has to offer.
“I’m so excited because we’re going to see better competition, we’re going to see a lot more team attacks rather than fast breaks,” Pattison said. “It’s going to be a lot more of a team defensive effort, it’s going to be a lot more important for our defense to be together.”
Monday night at least, the Patriots seemed ready to attack that challenge to come.
“Absolutely,” Pattison said.
