Leesburg, Va. — Over the last five years, the Riverside High School girls lacrosse team has lost just a handful of games. But one loss, in particular, has been on the top of their minds: a 16-14 loss to Douglas Freeman in the 2021 VHSL Class 5 State championship game.
Fast forward nearly 365 days, and the Rams are ready for redemption. But the road back to the state tournament in 2022 was rockier for Riverside than it was in past years as the Rams put together a more daunting schedule in hopes of better preparing themselves for a chance at state glory.
“We want to play teams that are going to make us better, and we hope that we make others better,” Riverside head coach Kristan Ash said. “It’s important to constantly test ourselves, even if it doesn’t go our way. We have to be fueled by failure. If you’re never tested, you never really know what you need to fix.”
[adrotate group=”6″]Their preparation paid off on June 1 when the Rams hosted and dominated Potomac District runner up Independence, 22-10, to claim the VHSL Region 5D championship—their fifth straight region title.
“We’re always trying to evolve and do us better, and getting back to the state championship is always top of mind for us,” Ash said. “I’m just really proud of them for coming together as a team and just getting it done.”
Riverside got on the board quickly when senior midfielder Lauren Greig scored in the game’s first three minutes. Then Riverside added to the lead soon after when junior attack Madison Broyhil scored her first goal of the night as the Rams looked to be in motion.
However, by late in the first half, freshman attack Aria Webster and the rest of the Tigers had cut the lead to just 7-6, putting the Rams on their heels.
“Everything is a fight. Every team is getting better. It’s so awesome to look across the field and see the incredible program Independence, Woodgrove, and others are putting together,” Ash said. “Independence is well coached and they have some really dynamic players.”
With a 7-6 lead with less than six minutes to play in the first half, the Rams looked towards their senior leaders to step up and senior attack Lydia Oldknow answered the call, scoring her second of four goals on the night to stunt the Independence rally.
“The playoffs aren’t about records and they’re not about stats; they’re about who shows up—and Indy showed up tonight.”
—Riverside head coach Kristan Ash
After junior midfielder Audrey Ziff scored her second goal of the night, Oldknow added her third to increase the Riverside lead to 10-6.
Then, with 91 seconds to play, Riverside senior midfielder Paige Fox scored her second goal of the night to increase the lead to five. Just 18 seconds later, Fox scored again then 34 seconds after that, Fox added one more first-half goal to make the lead 13-6.
And because that run wasn’t enough to close the half, Riverside junior midfielder Grace Greason got in on the scoring action with less than 10 seconds to play in the half as the Rams ended the first half on a 7-0 run to take a 14-6 lead into the half.
“Our team is so skillful, so it really helps our offense knowing that a lot of girls have stick skills and can shoot the ball,” Oldknow said
Riverside quickly added to its lead early in the second half when Broyhill added her third goal of the night. But even as the Rams started to pull away, Webster wouldn’t give in as the freshman phenom scored back-to-back goals early in the second half.
“The playoffs aren’t about records and they’re not about stats; they’re about who shows up—and Indy showed up tonight,” Ash said. “But we felt like we were having success on the draw so we were able to pace ourselves a little bit, and we stepped up to the challenge.”
With Oldknow in the face off, the Rams knew they were poised to have success and the Arizona State-commit did what she did best: controlling the face off and giving her team the best chance to succeed.
“There’s that saying that it’s hard to beat a team three times,” Oldknow said. “But we really stepped up and proved that we could.”
Their VHSL Region 5D championship win earned the Rams the No. 1 seed in the VHSL Class 5 State tournament where they’ll host Deep Run on June 7. The Tigers will travel to reigning state champion Douglas Freeman for the other state semifinal on the same night.
“We have to improve every game,” Oldknow said. “Last year, we got hit by a bang in the state championship game and lost, so this year, we played a more challenging schedule which I think is going to help us.”
Andrew Weitzel captured 300+ photos at the game!
Scoring
| Period | Time | Team | Goal | Score |
| 1H | 23:30 | Riverside | Lauren Greig | 1-0 |
| 1H | 21:07 | Riverside | Madison Broyhill | 2-0 |
| 1H | 17:27 | Independence | Aria Webster | 2-1 |
| 1H | 17:03 | Riverside | Madison Broyhill | 3-1 |
| 1H | 15:10 | Riverside | Alex Sutch | 4-1 |
| 1H | 14:49 | Independence | Samantha Maze | 4-2 |
| 1H | 12:54 | Riverside | Paige Fox | 5-2 |
| 1H | 11:46 | Independence | Madison Hunt | 5-3 |
| 1H | 11:25 | Riverside | Lydia Oldknow | 6-3 |
| 1H | 9:48 | Independence | Samantha Maze | 6-4 |
| 1H | 7:11 | Riverside | Audrey Ziff | 7-4 |
| 1H | 6:49 | Independence | Savannah Moore | 7-5 |
| 1H | 6:31 | Independence | Aria Webster | 7-6 |
| 1H | 5:41 | Riverside | Lydia Oldknow | 8-6 |
| 1H | 4:55 | Riverside | Audrey Ziff | 9-6 |
| 1H | 3:04 | Riverside | Lydia Oldknow | 10-6 |
| 1H | 1:31 | Riverside | Paige Fox | 11-6 |
| 1H | 1:13 | Riverside | Paige Fox | 12-6 |
| 1H | 0:39 | Riverside | Paige Fox | 13-6 |
| 1H | 0:07 | Riverside | Grace Greason | 14-6 |
| 2H | 0:31 | Riverside | Madison Broyhill | 15-6 |
| 2H | 23:19 | Independence | Aria Webster | 15-7 |
| 2H | 22:59 | Independence | Aria Webster | 15-8 |
| 2H | 20:22 | Riverside | Lydia Oldknow | 16-8 |
| 2H | 18:38 | Riverside | Lauren Greig | 17-8 |
| 2H | 12:47 | Independence | Madison Hunt | 17-9 |
| 2H | 10:49 | Riverside | Madison Broyhill | 18-9 |
| 2H | 8:48 | Riverside | Alex Sutch | 19-9 |
| 2H | 6:50 | Independence | Aria Webster | 19-10 |
| 2H | 6:10 | Riverside | Grace Greason | 20-10 |
| 2H | 5:02 | Riverside | Paige Fox | 21-10 |
| 2H | 3:04 | Riverside | Lauren Greig | 22-10 |