For the second straight game, Fort Mill girls’ lacrosse won in overtime this time punching their ticket to the 5A state finals.
Fort Mill beat the JL Mann Patriots 10-9 Monday at Bob Jones Stadium to win the Upper State championship and will face the Chapin Eagles at 11 a.m. Saturday, April 27 at Irmo High School for the 5A state championship.
“We like to make things interesting,” said Fort Mill head coach Kirsten Terry. “The seniors understood. They have lost before to Mann in the third round.”
This time it was CeCe Shia that scored the game winning goal with 1:23 left in overtime for her sixth goal of the game. Grace Sandler would add four goals as the two combined to do all the scoring for the Jackets. Fort Mill improved to 13-5 overall with the win.
Fort Mill started slow again in this game like they did against Byrnes. Terry said it was just a matter of getting the nerves out. The game started much like it did the previous one for Fort Mill as the opposition got the ball at the opening and went right down the field to score just 36 seconds into play.
Fort Mill had some early chances offensively, but the Patriots were on top of things to prevent them from scoring.
Shia finally found that seam for the Jackets as she scored just under seven minutes in the first quarter. Sandler came back to give Fort Mill the advantage scoring 32 seconds later.
The two teams traded goals as the quarter went on with Sandler scoring again for the Jackets. However, the Patriots would then score three consecutive times in the final four minutes to go up 5-3 after the first quarter.
Shia helped Fort Mill rally scoring about three minutes into the second quarter. Fort Mill would have multiple chances in the second quarter to score and Shia would add another goal for the Jackets, but JL Mann stayed one step ahead and closed out the first half leading 6-5.
The second half started like the first half ended as the Patriots opened the third quarter scoring two goals in the first 3:30 to take an 8-5 lead before a timeout by the Jackets.
Fort Mill struggled with passing and catching as the Patriots took advantage of the Jackets mistakes to score three consecutive goals going up 9-5.
Sandler was able to cut into the lead for Fort Mill scoring her third goal with about three minutes left in the third quarter.
Shia willed Fort Mill back into it as she scored twice to open the fourth quarter and cut the JL Mann lead to one at 9-8. Sandler came back to tie things up with 3:34 left in the game at nine which would eventually send it to overtime.
April 22 Roundup
The Fort Mill baseball team edged Catawba Ridge 3-1 in a pitcher’s duel as the two teams combined for just four hits. Fort Mill did all their scoring in the second inning and got two hits in the game coming off the bats of JB Walters and Thomas Ealey. Catawba Ridge had hits coming from Peyton Dhein and Ethan Solnick. Caden Glauber took the loss despite giving up the three runs on just two hits, while walking one and striking out 11. Alex Carreiro pitched a complete game walking three and striking out nine. Catawba Ridge, who dropped to 21-3 overall, made three errors in the game. Fort Mill improved to 18-5 overall.
The Nation Ford softball team lost 8-0 to Clover to finish second in Region 3-5A. The loss dropped Nation Ford to 8-2 in the region and 12-5 overall. The Falcons had just three hits in the game coming from Paizlei Ross, Jill Hennessey and Jackie Knol.
The Nation Ford boys’ golf team won a tri-match against Indian Land and York at Springfield Golf Club shooting a 165. Indian Land shot a 179 and York shot a 203. Ben Wakefield shot a 37 to lead Nation Ford, followed by a pair of 42s from Carter Smith and Jake Macheski. Peyton Lindenberg shot a 44 to finish out the scoring for Nation Ford.
The Catawba Ridge boys’ golf team finished fourth at the Swamp Fox Invitational. Hunter Warren led the Copperheads with a 73.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
