Leesburg, Va. — In a back-and-forth game, it was the offensive explosiveness of the Riverside High School girls lacrosse team that proved to be the deciding factor. The Rams fended off multiple Dominion High School rallies to defeat the Titans, 14-8, in a VHSL 4A State semifinal on June 5 in Leesburg.
Riverside found its first break less than three minutes into the game when junior midfielder Lilly Boswell scored to put the Rams up 1-0. Thirty seconds later sophomore midfielder Bryn McCaughey followed up with a goal of her own, and the Rams were in motion.
[adrotate banner=”19″]Following a Dominion goal, Riverside rallied off three more goals to give themselves a four-goal lead midway through the first half.
Dominion, however, recovered late in the first half as freshman attack Jessie Lee scored twice in the final five minutes of the half, pulling the Titans within one of the Rams heading into halftime.
“The momentum can swing at any time. Your heart drops a little bit when you see that,” Riverside head coach Kristan Ash said. “You have to be really careful with Dominion. They’re well coached. That is a really athletic, really skilled team. They’re dangerous at any time. You have to bring your best against them every single time. You have to execute, and you can’t leave anything to chance against them.”
Dominion junior midfielder Catherine Renick completely erased the Riverside lead three minutes into the second half, as the Titans and Rams were knitted at 6-6 with about 20 minutes to play.
Just when it looked like Dominion was in complete control, Riverside bounced back with goals by sophomore midfielder Jenna Greason and Boswell as the Rams retook a two-goal lead.
And for the rest of the night, every time it looked like the Titans were poised to strike, the Rams’ offense swung the momentum back towards Riverside.
“We needed to make some adjustments. In the first half, we had less off ball movement then we usually do. They defended that very well,” Ash said. “In the second half, we started to open things up a little bit more and added more off ball movement.”
With the win, Riverside punched its return ticket to the VHSL 4A State championship game on June 9 in Salem.
“They have really been fueled by that failure at the state championship last year. It was a great game, but we lacked experience,” Ash said. “This year, we’re just excited to get back on the field.”
Scoring:
1H 22:16 RS Lilly Boswell
1H 21:43 RS Bryn McCaughey
1H 20:16 D Catherine Renick
1H 18:31 RS Jenna Greason
1H 17:27 RS Bryn McCaughey
1H 14:13 RS Jenna Greason
1H 12:58 D Jessie Lee
1H 10:06 D Mya Brock
1H 8:59 RS Bryn McCaughey
1H 4:25 D Jessie Lee
1H 3:11 D Jessie Lee
2H 21:41 D Catherine Renick
2H 19:25 RS Jenna Greason
2H 18:52 RS Lilly Boswell
2H 17:14 D Jessie Lee
2H 14:25 RS Jenna Greason
2H 13:01 D Liese Damm
2H 11:10 RS Katherine Lutz
2H 9:58 RS Bryn McCaughey
2H 8:14 RS Kendra Keyser
2H 4:45 RS Tatum Broyhill
2H 4:10 RS Kendra Keyser