Leesburg, Va. — For the fifth time in as many trips, the Riverside High School boys lacrosse team will hang a region championship banner. After falling into an early 2-0 hole against Briar Woods High School, the Rams rallied back, took the lead late in the first quarter, and never looked back in their 13-6 win over the Falcons in the VHSL Region 5D championship on June 1 in Leesburg.
“That’s our fifth straight region title. That’s tough to do, but our guys work hard for that to happen, so hats off to everybody involved,” Riverside head coach Nick Worek said. “Getting to hang another banner up in the gym is fantastic.”
Riverside got off to a slow start as Briar Woods came out in a zone to try to slow down and disrupt the Rams’ offense.
“Briar Woods had a great game plan coming in. They sat in a zone; we kind of knew they were going to come out in a zone,” Worek said. “They gave us some fits early, and our fundamentals weren’t there.”
[adrotate group=”6″]And, for a period of time, it worked as the Falcons struck first, less than 60 seconds into the game when junior midfielder Ben Pearsall scored to put Briar Woods up 1-0.
Exactly four minutes later, Briar Woods freshman attack Landon Sonnenfeld added to the lead to add to the Falcons’ early advantage.
The score remained at 2-0 for the next five minutes before Riverside senior midfielder Evan Boswell got the Rams on the board with just over two minutes to play in the first quarter.
“We talk about Evan being an icebreaker,” Worek said. “He’s done that a lot in big games throughout his career.”
Boswell—who scored just ten seconds into last year’s rout of Douglas Freeman in the 2021 VHSL Class 5 State championship—not only got Riverside on the board, but also grabbed the momentum for the Rams.
A minute after Boswell’s goal, Riverside senior midfielder Benny Kasoff tied the game at 2-2 before senior attack James Gartland gave the Rams the lead with 11 seconds to play in the first frame.
After taking the lead late in the first quarter, the Rams never gave it back as the Kasoff-Gartland duo combined for five more goals throughout the night. Riverside senior attack Cole Jones added a hat trick as well and junior attack Chase Pashuck and sophomore faceoff specialist Zach Ward also got in on the scoring.
“States is the obvious goal, but you have to get there by winning districts and winning regionals. It means a lot to put another banner up for our school.”
—Riverside senior midfielder Evan Boswell
With their district and region championships secured, the Rams now set their sights on defending their VHSL Class 5 State title, and they’ll get the opportunity to do so at home in Leesburg.
Riverside will host Region 5C runner up Deep Run in a VHSL Class 5 State semifinal on June 7 in Lansdowne. If they win, the Rams will then turn around and host the winner of Region 5C champion Douglas Freeman and Region 5D runner up Briar Woods in the state championship game on June 11 at Riverside.
“Getting to host throughout is super special,” Worek said. “This community is awesome. You saw the crowd tonight: I mean for a lacrosse game, it was tremendous—it rivals some football crowds. It’s a home field advantage for sure.”
Andrew Weitzel captured 300+ photos at the game!
Scoring
| Period | Time | Team | Goal | Score |
| 1Q | 11:07 | Briar Woods | Ben Pearsall | 0-1 |
| 1Q | 7:07 | Briar Woods | Landon Sonnenfeld | 0-2 |
| 1Q | 2:17 | Riverside | Evan Boswell | 1-2 |
| 1Q | 0:55 | Riverside | Benny Kasoff | 2-2 |
| 1Q | 0:11 | Riverside | James Gartland | 3-2 |
| 2Q | 10:02 | Riverside | James Gartland | 4-2 |
| 2Q | 5:27 | Briar Woods | Luke Romano | 4-3 |
| 2Q | 5:14 | Riverside | Chase Pashuck | 5-3 |
| 3Q | 10:19 | Riverside | Benny Kasoff | 6-3 |
| 3Q | 6:00 | Riverside | James Gartland | 7-3 |
| 3Q | 5:01 | Briar Woods | Brady Carmichal | 7-4 |
| 3Q | 4:29 | Riverside | Cole Jones | 8-4 |
| 3Q | 0:27 | Riverside | Cole Jones | 9-4 |
| 4Q | 11:49 | Riverside | Zach Ward | 10-4 |
| 4Q | 9:09 | Riverside | Benny Kasoff | 11-4 |
| 4Q | 8:13 | Riverside | Cole Jones | 12-4 |
| 4Q | 7:10 | Briar Woods | Landon Sonnenfeld | 12-5 |
| 4Q | 5:46 | Briar Woods | Tate Young | 12-6 |
| 4Q | 4:28 | Riverside | James Gartland | 13-6 |