Stories

Dynamic Attack: Western girls lacrosse beats Monticello to win region title

Photo by Matt Newton

 

The Western Albemarle girls’ lacrosse team cruised through the regular season, winning every game by at least nine goals. On Thursday evening with the region title on the line, the Warriors somehow managed to find another gear.

 

Western scored the game’s first seven goals and had four players record at least three goals en route to a 24-6 blowout victory over Monticello in the Region 4A title game. 

 

As usual, Mattie Shearer was the catalyst for Western’s early offensive success, as the senior won several draws and turned those possessions into fastbreak scoring opportunities on virtually every draw. On Monticello’s first possession of the game, Shearer stole the ball and went coast-to-coast before passing it to junior Sophie Lanahan who scored the game’s first goal. 

 

Shearer finished with a team high nine points, including six goals and three assists. 

 

“Mattie is a great player but she could never do it alone,” said Western Albemarle head coach John Warner. 

 

She doesn’t have to, the Warriors have a host of talented scoring options and Shearer is as capable of a distributor as she is a scorer. Shearer scored or assisted on five of Western’s first seven goals and connected especially well with Lanahan, who finished with four goals and three assists. 

 

“Sophie tends to be the glue that keeps things stable,” Warner said. “She distributes the ball, she slows it down. She makes really smart plays all the time. And today she took it to a higher level.” 

 

Monticello stemmed the tide with a goal on a free position shot by junior Alison Swartout. Swartout scored all three of the Mustangs’ first half goals, with each coming on a free position following a Western foul. 

 

Unfortunately for Monticello, Swartout’s production was not enough to keep up with Western’s array of attackers. After Swartout scored to get the Mustangs on the board, Western responded by scoring eight of the next nine goals, including a backhanded goal by Mattie Shearer as she was being checked by the Monticello goalie. At halftime, Western led 15-3. 

 

“I think the key to this team is that they’re so versatile,” Warner said. “Everyone can score. They complement each other.”

 

Western slowed down their tempo slightly in the second half, but continued to operate very efficiently on the offensive end. Junior Mallory Greene added three unassisted goals in the second half and finished with six total goals for the game. Senior Libby Carbo tallied three goals and two assists. 

 

Monticello scored three goals in the second half, one more by Alison Swartout, who finished with four goals, and two from Taylar Hackney. The Mustangs, who have just a pair of seniors on the roster, could never get themselves in enough of a rhythm to threaten a comeback, though. 

 

Lanahan assisted on a Mallory Greene goal with just over ten minutes to play, just before Warner switched out most of his starters. 

 

“It was a total team effort,” Lanahan said after the game. “We’ve really been working hard these past few weeks to really dial in and work on the little things. It all paid off.” 

 

Western advances to the Class 4 state tournament which starts Tuesday evening.

 

“We just gotta keep working hard, come in every day and we’ll win the state championship if we keep doing it,” Lanahan added. 

Comments

comments