Western rolls into JD championship

By Liz Keller

Published: May 13, 2008

The Western Albemarle girls lacrosse team showed why it is the Jefferson District’s top team as it excelled in all facets of the game in a semifinal win over Charlottesville Tuesday night.
The Warriors broke to an 8-0 lead and cruised to a 16-5 victory to advance to the tournament championship against Rockbridge County Thursday at 5 p.m. Rockbridge upended Salem 11-10 in double overtime to reach the title game.
“We just tried to stay with the basics — taking care of the ball and passing it around and getting it to the key players so we could get some goals,” said Western Albemarle coach Nancy Haws. “They had good passing, good field awareness, took care of the ball and they were really unselfish — they looked for their teammates.”
The Warriors (12-2) used their crisp passing to take control early. Abby Wheeler scored back-to-back goals to open the game and Ellen Shaffrey took a pass from Stephanie Warren and scored as Western led 3-0 at the 19:09 mark.
Wheeler finished with a team-high five goals and Shaffrey had a hat trick and an assist. Warren was also an important part of the Warriors’ attack, securing eight draw controls and assisting on three goals.
Jordan Haws and Mary Schwartz joined in the fray as Western continued to dominate possession.
The Warriors also got the majority of the draw controls and were effective in picking up ground balls as they coasted the rest of the way.
Brooke Milby and Kristen Gay paced the Black Knights with two goals apiece and Gwen Buckley tallied another. Annie Foky led the defense with five saves.
A young team with just three seniors on its roster, Charlottesville has seen improvement since the beginning of the year.
“We played Charlottesville early in the season and knew that they have an incredible coach. So we knew they would bring an improved game and we made sure the girls were prepared,” Haws said. “Their defense and their goalkeeper had a fantastic game and their attack [was improved]. And true to what we expected, even our girls commented about how much better the players were. [CHS coach Lena Zentgraf] is doing a great job developing the program.”