Rockbridge Rolls In Regionals

Wildcats Defeat Blacksburg For Second Time

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 of last week in Lexington.

The Wildcats improved to 13-2, earning their 12th win in a row and securing a Class 4 state quarterfinal home game against John Champe on Friday. (See separate story.)

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 last Monday, the Bruins (14-2) answered

, page A8 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 who was named Region 4D player of the year last week, had one of the best games of her career, leading the Wildcats with five assists to tally 11 total points. RC head coach Susan Nye, mother of Anna, said that Anna had “the night of her life.”

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.

Coach Nye, who was named Region 4D coach of the year last week, said the Wildcats’ offense “was the best that they’ve actually performed. They settled the ball when they needed to. Our shots just were better placed. We took care of the ball and understood possession.”

“In our feeds today, we’re right at the person’s stick,” She said the Wildcats “were incredible for assists. It’s so nice to see.”

The Wildcats dominated the draw, with Anna 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.

“The defense has become so solid,” said Coach Nye. “They played like a cohesive unit. They’re trusting each other, they’re believing in each other and it’s incredible.”

Charis Krouscas led Blacksburg with three goals, while Karlyle Gresham scored two goals. Blacksburg goalie Leo McCoy made seven saves.

Reflecting on the significance of the win, Anna Nye said, “It’s huge. I love everything about being on this team, not only playing for Susan, but playing for all the girls that just bring so much personality out of me. … The love for the game for everyone is just amazing. You can never go wrong with a great sport that everyone loves and plays so hard for each other.”

“We really wanted to show it to Blacksburg,” added Anna. “We had a tough game the first time [on May 5], and we just wanted to bring it all out and lay it all out, even though we will still play on Friday. The passing got better, and everything about everybody just brings everything out, and we just wanted to end it for those last two quarters.”

Mulitalo said the regional championship game was “probably one of our best games. Everybody was super patient with the ball. Defense was very good in communicating, and our goalie was amazing. … But mostly patience. Everybody had great patience. Our feeds were super good, and our goals were just falling in. It was a good game.”