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Emma Wallace moves her Highland girls lacrosse team ever closer to a state title
A postseason sequence seems to have formed for the Highland School girls lacrosse team.
Next in line is a state championship.
One season after winning a quarterfinal game in the VIS Division II state tournament for the first time in school history, the Hawks went a step further in 2009, beating Cape Henry Collegiate, 18-8, in the May 15 state semifinals before losing the May 16 final to St. Anne’s Belfield, 15-11.
Highland coach Emma Wallace will only lose a few starters to graduation and expects a solid freshman class, so improving again in 2010 is a reasonable hope.
“I’m very excited for next year,” Wallace said. “A lot of my players know what it takes to make the finals – the commitment and attitude….We’re looking to take the championship.”
The Hawks (12-7) nearly took the title this season, leading STAB, 2-0, early in state final and hanging within two goals of the eventual champion most of the day. STAB added two quick goals late in the game to distort the score a bit.
“It was certainly a completely different game than our first one against STAB,” said Wallace, a former Johns Hopkins University player. “I wouldn’t say my girls were scared [in the first meeting], but there was a little bit of a fear factor.”
The Hawks lost that April 30 regular season game against St. Anne’s Belfield, 14-5, but the ensuing Delaney Athletic Conference tournament transformed Wallace’s team into a formidable contender by the time it met STAB in the state final. Wallace said the true turning point in the season was when Highland beat Foxcroft, 12-7, in the DAC final.
“That was a wake up call that we can beat a D-I team – beat them by five goals and shut down their top player,” Wallace said. “That was the moment my defense came together, and my goal keeper. That was one of the key factors that inspired us in the postseason...
See the Friday print issue of the Fauquier Times-Democrat Weekend Edition for the complete story.
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