Throughout the year, the Western Albemarle girls lacrosse team has been a second half squad. The Warriors seem to be at their best coming out of the break. That was the case in the Group AAA/AA championship against WT Woodson on a balmy Saturday, but it was also a second half that had Western coaches pacing up and down the sideline nervously and players taking deep long hard breaths to focus inbetween whistles. It was a shootout to say the least, and an Ellen Shaffrey goal with a few minutes to play turned out to be the game clinching shot.
“Our girls came out very nervous,” said Western coach Nancy Haws, who earned career victory 100 in the win. “So at the half we told them that they needed to get back to their game and the way they know how to play and it’ll be their win. It was unfortunate that we couldn’t just hold on to a 4-goal lead, but credit Woodson for that. I don’t think we were resting on our laurels – they fought back.”
The first half was decidedly different from the second as both teams were efficient with possessions, but also patient as well. Woodson jumped out to a 2-0 lead, and held a 2-goal lead for most of the half, but in the final minute of play before halftime, Anna Leibowitz found Jeannette Fellows who cut the lead to one goal.
The tone of the game changed after the break. Immediately after the ball fell into her stick on a draw control, Abby Wheeler scored her first goal of the game 12 seconds into the second half on a fast break.
While Woodson reclaimed the lead on a score from Emily Whittman moments later, the Warriors’ offense kicked down the gate in the next 10 minutes as they peeled off a 5-0 run highlighted by a spinning breakaway from Jordan Haws.
“The girl defending me was playing me hard to one side,” Haws said of the move that drew oh’s and ah’s from the crowd. “So I spun and took her to the other side and then all of the sudden she was behind me. I thought ‘Oh my gosh! I should shoot.’”
The offensive spurt put Western up by four goals with a little over 15 minutes to play. However, The Cavaliers came into the contest with the reputation as a comeback team, having clawed back from a 4-goal deficit earlier in the tournament. They did it again.
In less than a minute, the margin was two after Michelle Montgomery and Devon Montgomery each found the back of the net. That would be the flow for Woodson for the rest of the match – scoring bursts fueled by draw control victories.
When Wheeler scored her second goal to give Western a 3-goal lead again, the Cavaliers struck back with 3-straight of their own with just under 10 minutes to go.
But Western, the only AA school to ever earn a berth in the title game, would not be denied. Wheeler picked her third goal to break a tie at 11 goals each, and then scored on a brilliant diving play off of a pass from Fellows to give Western a 2-score lead.
“Every time we’d get comfortable, it’d seem that (Woodson) would come back,” Wheeler said. “So we played trying to work as hard as we possibly could because of that.”
With 3:42 to go, Ellen Shaffrey scored her fourth and Western’s final goal of the game even as her coaches pleaded with her and teammates to work on the clock. Of course, considering the outcome, all was forgiven.
“I’m glad she did it,” Haws said. “That turned out to be the difference.”
With Woodson’s back pinned against the wall and with just three minutes until the final horn, Rachel Obgeron and Elena Obgeron scored in a 48 second span to cut Western’s lead down to one.
The final two minutes of the Warriors season was then spent chasing ground balls and killing clock, something Wheeler and Jordan Haws were more than happy to do, and were able to accomplish.
“When they got the draw my heart stopped,” Haws said. “But our defense stepped up big and got us the ball off of a messy play and we got it up the field. We’ve practiced stalls throughout the year, just holding the ball, whatever you have to do to do it.”
Wheeler and Shaffrey had four goals a piece. Fellows had a 6-point night on three goals and three assists. Leibowitz led the team in helpers with four.
Wheeler, Haws, defender Anna Krueger and Kellen Haley are the only four Western seniors, and after qualifying for the state tournament as sophomores in 2008, they are now the proud owners of the Warriors’ first and only AAA/AA lacrosse title.
“Honestly, I feel as though this team represents a little more than just Western,” said Nancy Haws. “They’re representing Central Virginia and about what kind of quality programs we have, what quality players we have and how they can compete with the heavy hitters.”
