Lady Patriots Can’t Hold off the Rams

The Yorktown girls’ lacrosse team could not maintain their winning ways after earning the National District title, as they fell to the Robinson Rams 17-7 in the first round of the regional tournament.  The Lady Patriots took an early 5-3 lead, but a scoring drought of over 15 minutes proved costly, as they were outscored 5-0 to end the first half, and 9-2 in the second en route to their first loss in ten games.  Ella Richardson led Yorktown with a hat trick and Maddy Ernesto added a pair in defeat.

“I think they underestimated us at the start of the game,” Patriots head coach Crystal Morgan said.  “We showed them early on that we could compete.”

And the Lady Patriots did just that, scoring three unanswered goals to take a 5-3 lead and force Robinson into their first timeout.  However, out of the break Robinson dominated play, as the Rams came back with a 5-0 run to finish the half with an 8-5 lead.

“Mentally we lapsed,” Morgan explained.  “We lost our confidence. We weren’t the same team that played so well against Hayfield.”

Things only got worse for the Lady Patriots in the second half as the Rams scored the first three of the period, and outscored Yorktown 9-2 to close out the game

“We knew any team from the Concord District would be tough,”  Morgan said. "When they got going we started panicking, and our passing and catching was sloppy."

Despite the dominating defeat and an early exit from the regional tournament, Morgan remained very happy with the successes of her team this year.  In her first year as coach of a team with a decade of consecutive district titles, repeating this year was a great relief.

“I am really proud of all my girls,” Morgan said.  “Losing so many seniors from last year’s team, everyone thought this was going to be a rebuilding year, but I told them we could go as they wanted to go, and I was really happy with our run through the District.”

She also remained focused and excited for the next game, even though it is now months away.  With 17 of her 23 players returning next year, it is not hard to understand why.

**Editor's Note: An earlier version of this article stated that Jodie McCoy added a pair of goals in defeat, when Maddy Ernesto actually scored the goals. We apologize for this mistake. **