They’re not there yet, but E.C. Glass’ boys and girls lacrosse teams are on the brink of something big.
On Monday night, the two young teams hosted Patrick Henry in a doubleheader tie-breaker at Lynchburg College’s Shellenberger Field to determine the Western Valley District champions. They had split their regular-season games.
Both squads came up short against the Patriots, who advanced to Wednesday’s Northwest Region tournament, but they held their own before a loud partisan crowd — the girls fell 11-8 before the boys bowed 14-7.
In a rematch of last year’s tie-breaker won by the Patriots 14-2 in Roanoke, Glass’ boys tied PH at 4 on Lynch Christian’s point-blank shot off a long run from the defensive end less than five minutes before halftime. But they allowed Andrew Burton (3 goals, 2 assists) to net two goals in the next 33 seconds and Kyle Smith (4 goals, 3 assists) to score unassisted to take a 7-4 lead with less than 30 seconds left in the half.
“They made the adjustments between games,” Glass fifth-year coach Brad Barth said. “They outplayed us. We missed some opportunities. We’re a young team.”
Smith opened the second-half scoring by receiving a long pass, spinning into the crease and depositing a short-ranged shot past Hunter Carrington (13 saves) into the goal. But moments after Glass’ Robert Lambeth (2 goals) intercepted a pass at midfield and bounced a running shot past PH goalie Avery Thomas, getting the crowd back into the game, Drew Anderson (4 goals) extended the lead back to 9-5 with a long-range shot from the top right of the circle and the Patriots pulled away.
“These guys stayed with it to the end of the game,” Barth said. “They’ll be back and remember this next year. We’re going to get there. I was there when we were losing 25-0 and couldn’t compete with them.”
Glass’ girls struggled early and trailed PH 8-2 at the half, but controlled play for much of the second half and trimmed the deficit to 10-7 when Kelsey Allen made a long run and assist to Margaret Harrington.
“They came out a little more intense that we did (and we) got a little discouraged,” said coach Marisa Wilson, who formerly played at LC. “(But we) played hard, rallied back and came close.”
Kara Dodson (3 goals) nearly cut it to a two-goal game but her spinning shot from in the right crease in the final three minutes went just wide of the left post.
Patriots coach Kayla Moore was impressed with the Hilltoppers.
“They’re very fast and they played to win,” Moore said.
“That’s one of the fastest teams we’ve ever seen,” assistant coach Mike Norton added.
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