Facing defending Class 4 state champion Salem, the Rockbridge County High School boys lacrosse team suffered an 18-3 home loss on Thursday night in Lexington.
It was the fifth consecutive loss for the Wildcats (3-7), who came up short 9-6 at Blacksburg on Monday. Salem improved to 9-1.
In Thursday’s game, senior attackman Grayden Brown scored all three of the Wildcats’ goals, and RC senior goalie Chase Pooley made 16 saves.
Pooley and RC’s defenders kept the Spartans scoreless until Tucker Preas put in a little over six minutes into the game. Late in the quarter, the Spartans scored again to make it 2-0.
Salem extended its lead to 4-0 early in the second quarter before Brown scored to cut it to 4-1. After four more Spartan goals, Brown scored from Salem goalie Richard Hof’s left side to cut Salem’s lead to 8-2, but the Spartans added two more goals to take a 10-2 lead into halftime.
In the third quarter, Salem scored five more goals before Brown put in his third goal with 2:17 left, and the Spartans scored again to take a 16-3 lead into the fourth quarter. Salem added two more goals in the fourth quarter.
Before the game, the Wildcats honored senior manager Hayley Higgins and their 16 senior players: Brown, Pooley, Trenten Cash, Benjamin Davis, Malcolm Forbes, Justin Higgins, Andrew Kelly, Aiden Meyers, Avery McDaniel, Brennan McDaniel, Cole Peters, Daniel Reed, Caleb Robinson, Dusten Sisk, Liam Stillwell and Jack Wonderly.
Although the Wildcats have one more home game scheduled on Wednesday, May 13 against William Byrd, Thursday’s game was likely the last to be played at Prasnicki-Ross Field at Veterans Stadium this field, as RC will be installing artificial turf on its home field. While the work is being done, the Wildcats will play their lacrosse and soccer games on the turf field at The Fields at Southern Virginia University.
The Wildcats will return to action on Monday when they play at William Byrd, starting with junior varsity action at 5:30 p.m., with the varsity game scheduled to follow at 7.
For the story and photos from this week’s action, please see our May 6 newspaper.
