COLUMBIA – The Fort Mill Yellow Jackets fell in the 5A girls state lacrosse championship 13-4 to the Chapin Eagles Saturday at Irmo High School.
Fort Mill struggled most of the day, but was able to start fast. However, the lack of Grace Sandler for the Jackets hurt as she was out with an injury suffered in the Upper State championship earlier in the week.
“We started out nervous and scared,” said Fort Mill head coach Kirsten Terry. “When you play a good team, they will capitalize. I feel like we have a lot of great players coming back that has been on the field all year. We will be back next year.”
Fort Mill struck first with a goal from CeCe Shia at 9:18 in the first quarter.
Chapin was able to get one back two minutes later to tie things up. Both teams seemed to be methodical on offense, but the struggles for Fort Mill started early.
Chapin had a good look at the goal after a Jackets turnover which led them to taking a 2-1 lead. Fort Mill struggled early on to get close to the goal to get high quality shots.
Chapin added another goal taking a 3-1 lead to the second quarter. The Jackets struggled with dropping passes which led to turnovers and extra opportunities for Chapin.
Chapin opened the second quarter scoring two goals in the first three and a half minutes. Fort Mill had chances, but was unable to convert. The Eagles added two more goals before the half to make it 7-1.
The Eagles scored 26 seconds into the third quarter to open the second half as Fort Mill struggle to find an answer for the high-powered Chapin offense.
After 10 consecutive goals from Chapin, Shia gave Fort Mill their second goal of the game with about 55 seconds left in the third quarter.
Fort Mill’s Molly Bennett opened the fourth quarter scoring 45 seconds into the quarter.
Despite two consecutive goals from the Jackets, Fort Mill wasn’t able to slow down Chapin as they came back to make it 11-3 with just under eight minutes left in the game. The Eagles would score two more goals to start the running clock with about 6:30 left.
Shia would add one last goal for Fort Mill with about 1:15 left in the game to get a hat trick on the day. The Jackets finished their season at 13-6.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
