The Fort Mill girls’ lacrosse team use a strong second half to pull away against the TL Hanna Yellow Jackets advancing to the Upper State title match in the quarterfinals of the 5A Division II playoffs.
Fort Mill beat TL Hanna 13-5 to improve to 12-4 on the season and will now play the Riverside Warriors on Tuesday, May 5 in the Upper State title match at Bob Jones Stadum.
“The girls really bounced back and got it together after getting their nerves out,” said Fort Mill head coach Kirsten Terry. “It is good we are home for the Upper State championship this year. The girls are ready to play. It is a home game for us, so we are excited.”
Rylee Raiter put Fort Mill on the board about 90 seconds into the first quarter. Mallory Hitch came back less than 20 seconds later to put the Jackets up 2-0. Claire Rowland kept things rolling for Fort Mill scoring at the nine-minute mark in the first quarter.
TL Hanna prevented the shutout scoring 90 seconds later and then pulled within one goal about a minute after that. However, Hitch secured her second goal at 5:16 remaining in the opening quarter.
Fort Mill had multiple opportunities throughout the first quarter, but struggled at times holding onto the ball to get good shots.
The Jackets slowed the offense down to open the second quarter. Just under eight minutes, Cece Shia scored for Fort Mill. TL Hanna scored shortly afterward to keep the pressure on the Jackets and then pulled within one with 40 seconds left in the half to make it 5-4 at the break.
Hitch came out for Fort Mill with two consecutive goal to extend their lead in the opening minutes of the third quarter. TL Hanna kept it close, pushing Fort Mill to hold the ball more and milk the clock more.
With about two minutes left in the third quarter, Shia scored her second goal of the match and then secured a hat trick with five seconds remaining heading into the fourth quarter.
Shia kept the Jackets moving forward with a goal 11 seconds into the fourth quarter. Roland added her second goal with 10 minutes remaining and the Molly Bennett scored to extend the Fort Mill lead. Shia tallied her fifth goal with three minutes remaining in the match.
Fort Mill scored the final six goals of the match to pull away, as Shia scored five goals to lead the Jackets. Hitch added four goals and Roland had two for the Jackets.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
