Led by six goals each from Anna Nye and Lola Mulitalo, the Rockbridge County High School girls lacrosse team won its fifth consecutive Region 4D championship by pulling away to defeat Blacksburg 20-7 in the finals on Monday night in Lexington.
The Wildcats (13-2), earning their 12th win in a row, will play host to John Champe in the Class 4 state quarterfinals on Friday at 6 p.m. Blacksburg (14-2) will travel for its state quarterfinal game. In last year’s regional finals, the Wildcats beat Blacksburg 26-4.
When the teams met during the regular season on May 5 at Blacksburg, the Wildcats won 13-7.
Although the Wildcats raced to a 4-0 lead in the first quarter on Monday, the Bruins answered back to keep the first half close, cutting the lead to 6-3 in the second quarter before Josie Caldwell scored from the free position to put RC up 7-3 just before halftime.
Blacksburg trimmed RC’s lead to 8-6 in the third quarter, but the Wildcats used strong passing and great ball movement to score the next 12 goals, with the Bruins scoring the final goal before the game ended.
Nye, a sophomore midfielder, had one of the best games of her career, leading the Wildcats with five assists to tally 11 total points. Caldwell scored four goals and dished out two assists Emma Johnson chipped in two goals and two assists, Adrianna Grue and Emma McKnight each scored one goal for RC, and Ruby Goodhart had two assists.
The Wildcats dominated the draw, with Nye winning 15 draw controls and Mulitalo and Nadia Gaydos each winning three. Defensively, McKnight led RC with four ground balls, and Tadara Cooper collected three ground balls. McKnight and Nye each had three caused turnovers. RC goalie Alyssa Hunter made three saves.
Charis Krouscas led Blacksburg with three goals, while Karlyle Gresham scored two goals. Blacksburg goalie Leo McCoy made seven saves.
For the stories and photos from the Region 4D tournament, please see our June 4 and June 11 newspapers.
