WA’s Strong Finish Spoils RC Boys’ Home Opener
In a hard-fought home opener, the Rockbridge County High School boys lacrosse team came up short in an 8-5 loss to Western Albemarle on Tuesday of last week.
The Wildcats (1-1) led 5-4 early in the fourth quarter, but Western (1-2) had a strong finish, tying the game with 7:32 left and then scoring three more goals. It was much more competitive than last year’s game between the two schools, when the Warriors cruised to a 22-5 win in Crozet.
Comparing the two games, RC head coach Davey Jones said that, in last year’s showdown with Western, “We were out of that game the minute it started. In this one, we hung in there. I thought we had an opportunity to win, and I actually thought we were the better team tonight, just couldn’t close out the fourth [quarter].”
Western’s Grey Clifford opened the scoring with a goal just over two minutes into the game. After strong defense by both teams, Pat Looney forced a turnover and then ran in for a goal to tie the game at 1-1 with 1:06 left in the first quarter.
Early in the second quarter, Grayden Brown scored on an assist from Andrew Kelly to give RC a 2-1 lead, and Looney then scored to make it 3-1. Looney put in his third goal with 6:12 left in the first half, but the Warriors responded with two goals to cut the lead to 4-3 with just over two minutes left in the first half.
Most of the third quarter was scoreless until Clifford found the net at the end of the period to tie the game at 4-4.
In the fourth quarter, RC’s Parker Flint scored with a little under 10 minutes in to give his team a 5-4 lead. Western answered back, though, as Silas Terrill’s goal tied it, and Terrill scored three of the Warriors’ four goals in the quarter.
Senior Chase Pooley had a strong game in goal for the Wildcats, making 20 saves, while Kelly won four faceoffs for RC.
Praising Pooley, Jones said, “He keeps us in games. He’s a great shot stopper and just bulletproof mentally. That kid, if he does get scored on, he moves on to the next play. Having a keeper like that really helps our defense. Very proud of Chase and the way he played tonight.”
Using the loss as a lesson, Jones said, “I was telling the guys, the gift of a game like this is it just becomes very apparent what we have to work on. I think it’s pretty obvious that we need to work on our transition game, moving that ball from defense to offense. In 6-on-6 defense, I thought the guys played a hell of a game, real tough tonight. I think they played good team defense, a lot of communication.”
Offensively, Jones said, “For the most part, I thought we took advantage of opportunities. It gets hard when you end up playing a lot of defense. Your offense then gets impatient when they get the ball back, but in general, I’m proud of the guys.”
Jones, in his second year at the helm said the Wildcats, are focused on “taking a step forward” this season. “I feel like, if we can hang with Western, we can hang with any team we face this season,” he said.
Today, Wednesday, the Wildcats will travel to Charlottesville to take on Albemarle, starting with the junior varsity game at 5:30 p.m. On Monday, RC will play at Franklin County, beginning with JV action at 6 p.m.
WESTERN ALBEMARLE’S Cayden Dezio (23) and Western Albemarle goalie Angel Mandjuano-Ruiz try to stop RC’s Pat Looney (5) from scoring. (Stephanie Mikels Blevins photo)
WILDCAT SENIOR midfielder Aiden Meyers carries the ball in his stick while Western Albemarle’s Woody LaVoy guards him. (Stephanie Mikels Blevins photo)
RC SENIOR attackman Grayden Brown scores a goal early in the second quarter to give the Wildcats a 2-1 lead. (Stephanie Mikels Blevins photo)
