Fluco coach Jenny Payne noted that she was not disappointed by her team’s play, in light of the fact that the program is only in its second year.
In fact, the girls’ team scored an historic victory in its opener this year, recording its first win ever with a 13-12 victory over Liberty High School.
In this game against E.C. Glass, the Flucos were in the game most of the way. The Flucos scored first after six minutes of play, when Conner made a strong run down the middle of the field, and beat the goalie from close in. The Flucos had a chance to up the lead three minutes later when Conner was awarded a penalty shot, but she was unable to convert. E. C. Glass responded with two quick goals, scoring with fourteen minutes left on a nice run down the middle, and with thirteen minutes left on a quality pass combination. The Flucos immediately responded as Conner snatched the ball out of the air on the faceoff following the Hilltoppers second goal, and raced to the goal to score. In less than ten seconds the score was tied at 2-2.
E. C. Glass came back strong and scored four goals over a two minute period to take a 6-2 lead with 9:29 left in the half. Conner responded for the Flucos, scoring from in front on a good pass from behind the net. With 6:27 remaining Conner brought the Flucos back into contention scoring again from in front. The Hilltoppers responded two minutes later with a goal to make in 7-4. Fluco senior attacker Megan Graham executed a nice spin in front of the net and scored to make it 7-5 with 3:43 remaining. E. C. Glass was able to execute better than the Flucos in the final minutes of the half, and two more Hilltopper goals made the score 9-5 at the break.
The Flucos quickly cut the margin to three at the start of the second half as Conner scored again on a pass from behind the goal. E.C Glass scored on a penalty shot, and Conner responded, by also scoring on a penalty shot, so the score was 10-7 in the Hilltoppers favor with 23 minutes remaining. E. C. Glass scored again. And, again Conner responded. With 17:42 the difference was still only three goals at 11-8. The last quarter of the game did not go well for the Flucos. E. C. Glass scored seven consecutive goals to pull away decisively, and win by a ten goal margin of 18-8.
Coach Payne noted after the game that her team stayed close for most of the way. She stated that the team is taking “baby steps in the right direction.” She said that senior defender Hannah McMullin and junior defender Maggie Benvenutti played well “as usual.” Coach Payne also pointed out that the team has added speed as several track athletes have joined the team, so she is looking forward to improved results this season.
The girls’ lacrosse team plays away at Culpeper on March 25 and has a rematch with E. C. Glass on March 28. They return home to host Liberty on April 1. They begin Jefferson district play on April 9, hosting Western Albemarle.
