Girls lax to play in final four Thursday
photo by Chatham Farrell
In the district final against Winter Park, sophomore Renee Campbell attacks the defense. The team won the title, 15-8, one of seven straight wins leading up to Thursday’s state semifinal against Lake Highland.
The varsity girls lacrosse team will play in a state semifinal matchup against Lake Highland on Thursday, May 10 at 6 p.m. This is the farthest the team has ever advanced, and the biggest win so far was a regional finals victory against Oak Hall on May 3. In that game, it did not take long for the girls team to start clicking. Junior Joslin Hanbury scored her second goal of the match from the right side of the net to give the team their first lead with 14:52 left in the first half. The team played aggressive defense after, not allowing another goal for the rest of the half.
After the girls team took the lead they never looked back, and senior Katie Williams found the back of the net, scoring her first goal of the night to extend the lead to two with 9:40 left in the half. At the five minute mark, it looked like Oak Hall had cut the lead in half with a fast break, just to be robbed by goalie Alexis O’Brien, who had 10 saves for the night.
With little time remaining in the half, the team was still firing shots, leading to goals by junior Renee Campbell and Williams, both within 28 seconds of each other, making the lead 6-2.
After halftime, the girls team came out firing and senior Katie Bolotte scored with 19:58 left in the game. Hanbury found the left side of the net, scoring her second goal of the game and extending the lead. At the 9:30 mark Oak Hall called a timeout after Hanbury extended the lead to eight.
“Toward the end we really clicked. After the half we really separated ourselves,” Williams said.
After the timeout, Oak Hall bounced back by scoring back-to-back goals cutting the lead to five with 8:51 left to play. Hanbury cut off the comeback by scoring her fifth goal of the night from the right side of the net, giving the girls lacrosse a 13-7 lead, which ended up as the final score.
Even though Thursday’s game against Lake Highland, a final four matchup in Boca Raton, will be the new biggest game in team history, both players and coach hope to treat it like every other game this season.
‘We will prepare for our next match just as we have all year. Study film on our opponents, and formulate a game plan,” head coach Whittington said.
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