Western Albemarle girls lacrosse team caps perfect season with second straight state title (2024)

The Western Albemarle girls lacrosse team has been downright dominant at times this season, winning 12 games by 10 goals or more. However, in the Virginia High School League Class 4 state tournament, the Warriors were faced with their two toughest tests of the season.

And they passed both with flying colors.

In Wednesday’s state semifinals, Western rallied late to earn a 16-15 win over Meridian. And in Saturday’s state title game, the Warriors erased a 3-0 first-quarter deficit en route to a 12-8 win over Rockbridge County in front of a lively crowd at Charlottesville High School.

The victory secured a second straight undefeated state championship season for the Warriors (20-0).

“Probably what is the most impressive thing is their resiliency and their composure,” Western Albemarle head coach Peggy Williams said of her team. “Sometimes, teams can get on each other when that happens and we didn’t see that happen. We saw them actually play even harder together and I think that is what champions do. They have to pull out of holes sometimes and they have to pull out of tough situations and we were able to do that.”

Western found itself in a tough situation early in Saturday’s game after Rockbridge got goals from Halina Homiak, Madeline Dahl and Anna Nye to build a 3-0 lead with 2:09 left in the first quarter.

Taylor Florin got the Warriors on the board with a goal in the final minute of the first quarter, but the Wildcats responded with another goal from Dahl in the opening seconds of the second quarter to take a 4-1 lead.

Western did not panic and quickly regrouped after the goal.

Florin scored her second goal of the game to pull the Warriors within two, then Annie Alhusen scored three straight goals to give Western its first lead of the game. McLean Stokes extended the Warriors’ advantage to two goals (6-4) with a missile of a shot that beat the keeper.

“We were just cutting and moving the ball really quickly and I was open,” Stokes said of the play, “and I decided to take that shot, because we had not had that many shot opportunities [up to that point] and it went in.”

Alhusen capped the Warriors’ big second quarter with her fourth goal of the stanza with 2.4 seconds to go to give WAHS a 7-4 lead at the break.

“Annie is only a 10th grader but she plays much older than a 10th grader,” Williams said. “She’s really sneaky, clever and smart. Those goals were key and got everybody going.”

To the Wildcats’ credit, they battled back after halftime, scoring the first two goals of the third quarter to trim the lead to one (7-6). Western answered with back-to-back goals from Genevieve Hathaway, but again Rockbridge responded, getting goals from Lola Mulitalo and Nye to pull back within one (9-8).

The Wildcats did not score again.

Western’s defense tightened the rest of the way and goalie Maizey McCarthy made several nice stops to neutralize the Rockbridge offense. Meanwhile, the Warriors’ offense continued to produce goals and extend their advantage.

Senior Reeve Goldstein, who scored the game-winning goal against Meridian in the state semifinals, scored with 1:14 to go in the third quarter, then Alhusen snuck one past the keeper as time wound down to give Western an 11-8 lead heading into the final stanza.

“The defense played really good,” Alhusen said. “Maizey had bunch of big saves in goal and we transitioned it to the offense and a lot of shots fell.”

Maggie Craytor fittingly capped the scoring for Western with a goal early in the fourth quarter. Craytor is part of a special senior class that also includes Goldstein, Juliana Murphy and Katie Alhusen.

When the Warriors were presented with their state championship trophy, Williams sent the four seniors together to get it.

“The senior class is the winningest class in school history,” Williams said. “They only lost five games and won two championships and have been undefeated for two years. Their leadership and how they work together and how they’ve led the team has propelled us to be where we are today.”

The state championship was especially sweet for Katie Alhusen, who did not know if she would get the chance to play this season following knee surgery in November. But she made it back and got to finish her high school career on the field alongside her sister as a state champion.

“It was so special,” Williams said of Alhusen’s return. “She worked so hard to come back and got to play in every postseason game and was key. She had a lot of key moments in different games. I was so proud and happy that happened, but I was also happy that the sisters got to play together one last time.”