COLUMBIA – Two matches, twice the heartbreak.
The Lucy Beckham High School Bengals beat both the Fort Mill boys’ and girls’ lacrosse teams in the 5A Division II state championship at Irmo High School on Friday, May 8.
The girls match led things off against the Bengals falling 9-8 after making a strong second half comeback. Fort Mill outscored Lucy Beckham 6-2 in the second half.
For the girls’ team it was the third consecutive appearance in the state championship.
Lucy Beckham won the opening face-off and controlled possession early. The Bengals scored about three minutes into the match. Early turnovers aided Lucy Beckham in the early parts of the first quarter. Fort Mill only crossed midfield once in the first six minutes of the opening period.
The Jackets first lengthy possession didn’t result in a goal, but a penalty led to them giving the ball away to the Bengals. Fort Mill’s first shot came with about 2:30 left and was wide left. Lucy Beckham recovered and went the length of the field to score and go up 3-0, which stood going into the second quarter.
Like in the opening quarter, the Bengals scored about two and half minutes into the second quarter off a Fort Mill turnover. After another Jackets’ turnover, the Bengals again took advantage and went down to score about 75 seconds later to go up 5-0.
Coming out of a Fort Mill timeout, Mallory Hitch got the Jackets on the board with a goal at the 7:50 mark.
After the goal, Fort Mill was able to control the ball more, but still struggled to get a good look at the goal missing on several shot opportunities.
The two teams traded goals with the Jackets’ Cece Shia getting a goal despite being double teamed for most of the half.
Lucy Beckham stretched their lead to 7-2 at the half.
Shia fought to put Fort Mill back in it scoring her second goal just 34 seconds into the second half. A little less than two minutes later the Jackets’ Clare Roland scored to close the gap. Hitch continued to keep things trending the Jackets’ way as she scored her second goal of the match with less than eight minutes remaining in the quarter to put Fort Mill within two.
Rylee Raiter scored at the five-minute mark for the Jackets, but Lucy Beckham ended a four-goal streak for the Jackets with 2:28 in the third quarter. Fort Mill’s Molly Bennett scored with 16 seconds left in the third to put the Jackets deficit back at one at 8-7.
The Jackets carried a lot of momentum into the fourth quarter. Despite a Bengals goal, Shia kept Fort Mill swarming Lucy Beckham with her third goal of the match at 8:39 remaining.
The goal scoring in the fourth quarter was hard to come by for both teams. The Jackets made a valiant effort, but was unable to close things out as the Bengals took the state title by one goal.
Shia scored three goals to lead the Jackets. Hitch added two for Fort Mill. The Jackets finished the season at 13-5.
Boys match
The Lucy Beckham boys’ team looked even stronger with a 11-1 win over the Jackets.
“Games like this come down to the little things,” said Fort Mill head coach Alex Tindall. “At the end of the day they did more little things than we did and got the better of us. We played our hearts out.”
Fort Mill won the opening face-off, but was unable to score. The Bengals on their first possession wasted no time scoring within seconds to go up early.
Less than two minutes later, the Bengals pushed their score to 2-0. Lucy Beckham controlled possession for most of the opening quarter. Fort Mill struggled to win face-offs which led to the Bengals maintaining possession and extending its lead.
Lucy Beckham opened the second quarter with a 4-0 lead and won the opening face-off scoring 40 seconds later. When Fort Mill had possession, they struggled to penetrate the Bengals defense.
Fort Mill finally got on the board with 3:24 left in the half off a shot from Carson Maloney.
Lucy Beckham went into the locker room at the half up 6-1. Fort Mill won the initial face-off to open the second half, but was unable to score. The Bengals scored about three minutes into the quarter to extend their lead. Lucy Beckham was able to pace themselves and still maintain control of the match as they would score two more times before the end of the third quarter to go up 9-1.
The Bengals opened the fourth quarter scoring a goal about a minute into the quarter. Lucy Beckham scored with a just four minutes left to start a running clock to finish the match.
Fort Mill finished the season at 15-4 overall.
May 8 Roundup
The Fort Mill softball team beat Riverside in an elimination game on the road 5-1 to stay alive in the playoffs. Brooke Rosario went 3-4 with an RBI to lead the Jackets at the plate. Elise Nordgren went 1-3 with two RBI. Haley Rogers got the win going six innings and allowing one run on six hits. She struck out seven without allowing a walk. Fort Mill will play at Indian Land in another elimination game on Monday, May 11. The Jackets are 15-13 on the season.
The Catawba Ridge softball team lost 11-10 in eight innings, despite scoring eight runs in the seventh inning to tie the game at 10. BG Yates went 3-4 with three RBI in the game. The Copperheads dropped to 18-9 on the season.
The Nation Ford softball team scored five runs in the bottom of the seventh to win 8-7 on a walk-off walk over the Greenville Red Raiders. Kinslee Adamson and Brooke Ressler both went 2-4 with two RBI. Nation Ford improved to 18-9 on the season.
The Fort Mill girls’ soccer team went to penalty kicks against Riverside after a scoreless match, but lost 4-3 in penalties in the second round of the playoffs. The Jackets ended its season at 13-5
The Catawba Ridge girls’ soccer team won 1-0 over Nation Ford in the second round of the playoffs. Nation Ford ends their season at 12-6 overall. Catawba Ridge improves to 19-4-1 and moves to the third round.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
