Hilltoppers carve niche in busy season

The spring sports season was in full bloom this past Wednesday, on a beautiful afternoon at E.C. Glass High, with the campus engulfed in a hubbub of athletic activities.
The baseball and softball teams were in full practice mode on adjacent fields and batting cages, with the girls soccer team working out on a makeshift field beyond the softball fence and the boys soccer team in front of the school.
Meanwhile, the boys and girls tennis teams hosted Halifax in a dual match, with action on all 12 courts, and the boys and girls lacrosse teams split the new turf field at Bradford Stadium as the track and field team prepared for a quad meet.
With eight sports already on the spring sports schedule — baseball, softball and boys and girls soccer, tennis and track and field — adding boys and girls lacrosse might have seemed like two too many. But both fledgling programs have begun to flourish since gaining varsity status four years ago for the boys and last year for the girls.
Marisa Wilson, Cara Leepson and Kurt Peter, all former Lynchburg College players, have taken the reins of the girls team this spring. They are pleasantly surprised with the progress they’ve seen so far.
“They’re picking things up very quickly,” said Wilson, who hails from near Annapolis, Md., a hotbed for lacrosse. “They’re doing amazingly well for only a second-year program.”
“The fundamentals are getting a lot better,” added Peter, a backup goalkeeper for the Hornets’ men’s team who now works with Glass’s goalies.
Wilson has been emphasizing the attack, introducing new plays the Hilltoppers can use to penetrate from the perimeter out of their set offense.
“They’ve got the basics down — throwing, catching and scooping ground balls,” Wilson said. “We have a lot of good athletes and a lot of girls who are able to take it to the goal. We tell everybody to be your own threat.”
Many of their best scoring opportunities come off of fast breaks, much like in basketball.
“Our transitions are really good, so much better than last year,” sophomore midfielder Kelsey Allen said. “It’s like a different team than last year, much more advanced.”
“We’re working a lot more on transitions down the field,” added sophomore attack Kim Amerell, the Hilltoppers’ leading scorer last season. “Everybody’s really improved a lot. Our new coaches are really good. We’re working really hard on different plays (to) make us harder to defend.”
In girls lacrosse, there is no checking, though defenders can hit the stick of the ballcarrier. Most of Amerell’s goals have come from inside the 8-yard line, off individual runs or passes into the crease.
After posting a winning record in their first season, the Hilltoppers are off to a 1-4 start this spring after Thursday’s 18-14 loss at cross-town rival Virginia Episcopal School. But that is a reflection of their improved schedule, with the other losses to two Charlottesville-area teams and Salem.
“We’ve definitely added a lot of new teams (and) a lot of our opponents have had teams for 20 years,” Wilson said. “We’ve got high hopes for the rest of the season.”
She said the Charlottesville coach complimented Glass’s girls on their sportsmanship.
“We’re out there with 100 percent heart and hustling all over the field,” Wilson said. “It’s so obvious watching these girls that they want to be out there.”
The team’s future is bright, with the Blue Ridge Lacrosse Club acting as a feeder program.
“We only have four seniors and one junior, so we’re very young, with large freshman and sophomore classes,” Wilson said.
“We’re so looking forward to our senior year,” added Blair Blanchette, a sophomore defensive captain who holds the defense together, according to Wilson. “It’s going to be amazing.”
The varsity team has 23 players, with no JV team.
“There’s not enough interest for that, yet,” Wilson said.
But the sport is directly responsible for a rise in the number of female athletes out this spring.
“We have (more than) 60 females playing a sport this year as opposed to last year,” Glass athletic director and boys soccer coach Chip Berry said. “It’s the first time in the past five years we’ve had an increase.”
Scheduling practice times for all the soccer and lacrosse teams on limited field space has “stretched the patience of some of our coaches, parents and players,” according to Berry.
Nevertheless, the overall impact of adding lacrosse has been so positive that the school is considering adding field hockey as a club sport in the fall.
“It’s a very fun sport, and a great team sport,” Amerell said of lacrosse. “I love it.”