All CVA: Moss helped lead Patriots to state semifinals

By Ryan Yemen Daily Progress correspondent
Published: July 17, 2008

You can’t teach talent and you can’t teach hard work. Every coach would be lucky to get a player with either attribute.  But every once in a while, someone finds a player with both.
Such was the case for Albemarle girls lacrosse coach David Sloan when he stumbled across Margaret Moss. In her senior year at Albemarle, Moss scored 76 goals, assisted on 38 others and led her team to the semifinals of the VHSL State Tournament.
Her numbers alone are impressive, but what makes Moss’ season so remarkable is how quickly she developed into the area’s best offensive player.
While many players start working on their stick skills in elementary and middle school, Moss didn’t take to the sport until she was a freshman in high school.
“In ninth grade I was mostly involved in track,” Moss said. “But a bunch of people I knew kept telling me that I should come out for lacrosse. So I started throwing and I made the JV team. Once I started, I loved it.”
Moss’ passion for the game was born, and it carried over from the Albemarle practice field into the back yard where she set up a goal a makeshift goal with some tree branches to work on her shot.
“Once she got passionate she ran with it,” said Albemarle girls lacrosse coach David Sloan. “For most high school students, sports are a seasonal thing. With Margaret she got this fever for the game. It didn’t matter what time of year it was. She would throw against the wall or she would go into her backyard and work on her shooting. She recognized her ability.”
Fast, agile, and equipped with what Sloan describes as “the hardest and most accurate shot in Central Virginia,” Moss broke out of her shell as a junior, but she wasn’t finished improving.
“There were a lot of people who said that I wasn’t going to be able to have that kind of season again,” Moss said. “A lot of people thought it couldn’t happen twice.”
It did happen twice because while Moss had a spectacular junior performance, her game as a senior was on a different level. She was not only just scoring goals, she was controlling games.
As a result, she earned the honors of the 2008 Northwest Region player of the year, as well as earning a spot on the US Lacrosse All-American team.
“You know it was pleasing to watch her play,” Sloan said. “But it was also frustrating trying to coach all this talent.”
Sloan compared Moss to former local standout Molly McClintic, who now plays midfield for UVa.
“She has that ability, she’s a Molly McClintic-category player, and getting a player to just attack the net is a hard thing to do. And I think what may have plagued Margaret most as she was coming up was her lack confidence. It took her awhile to realize just how good she was.”
That all changed in Moss’ senior year. The Albemarle attacker took the competition apart, pushing her team to a 17-3 record.
In the early part of the season she scored four goals in a 13-6 win against Western Albemarle, a team that beat the Patriots twice when Moss was a junior. Moss and her team won again in the rematch on the road, this time 12-10, giving Albemarle the season sweep of the series against the bitter rivals.
“I would say that beating Western was the best part of the year for me.” Moss said. “Because when you play them it’s against friends. The intensity or rivalry between the two is lot more than a regular game. It’s funny because since those games we don’t seem to be very good friends.”
Sloan points to the Patriots’ 12-9 quarterfinal victory against Westfield in the Virginia High School League State Tournament as the highlight of Moss’ high school career.
“In that particular game she demonstrated that she was a complete team player,” Sloan said. “She scored five goals, but assisted six others. To me, that’s the key. It signaled that everything had come together from a leadership, hustle and sharing standpoint.”
While her playing days for the Patriots are over, Moss’ impact on the lacrosse program will last significantly longer than her four-year tenure on the team.
“Margaret raised the bar,” Sloan said. “For the younger players on this team, or on the JV team, she is a lacrosse goddess. She just has this certain level of
passion mixed with
aggression. She has this ‘get to the goal’ mentality. And that’s one of the hardest things to teach. It’s an epiphany when our players understand that.”
Moss will attend Appalachian State in the fall, and hopes to play for its club team in the spring, but she hasn’t ruled out trying to play for a Division I program.
“I really didn’t get around to the recruiting thing at the right time, so for now I’m going [to Appalachian State].” Moss said. “I love my free time, I love skiing, and that’s a good place for me to be. But if the right school were to come around, who knows.”
While Moss considers it a possibility, Sloan sees a future for his pupil.
“I think she can play for any program,” Sloan said. “Duke, Princeton, UVa, whoever. All Margaret has to do is make up her mind. If she gets the lacrosse bug, she won’t find it hard to find a place to play. There are plenty of coaches who would be happy to have her on their team.”