Chantilly Girls Lacrosse Suffers Heartbreaker to Cougars in State Semi

The Chantilly girls varsity lacrosse team (21-3) faced off against rival Oakton (17-6) for the third and final time this season in the Virginia High School State semifinal Tuesday night at . The series was even at 1-1, but this match carried much more weight – win or go home.

Down 16-8 with less than 15 minutes left in regulation, Chantilly captain Kacey Norwood left it all out on the field scoring three of her six goals in an attempted comeback, but Chantilly answered back with six more goals to deny the Chargers of advancing to the state championship in the loss, 23-12.

“We tried to come out as fast as possible. I think they’re really good at getting the draw controls at that’s kind of what sets the pace of the game,” Norwood said. “We just didn’t play the game we wanted to, but we played with heart and that’s all you can ask for.”

The Chargers fought hard defensively, but got off to a rough start as the Cougars scored four quick goals to put Chantilly in the hole, 4-0 in the first 10 to 15 minutes. Yet, Norwood hustled with aggression and heart sprinting past Cougar defenders to put her team back in the game with three goals, while teammates Sonia Wang and Kylie Chaplin added one apiece within the next 13 minutes. But the Cougars battled goal for goal to stay out front of the Chargers to take a 12-5 lead into halftime.

The second half started out much of the same as Oakton’s Carly Palmucci and Jackie Rupp scored six goals each. However, Shannon Strittmatter found space outside the crease twice to put the ball into the net at 21:16 and 6:30 left in the second to keep the Chargers within single digits.

“Our team had the best chemistry I think you can ask for. It wasn’t just one player, I mean Kacey is a great player but we also have a lot of girls who contribute too,’ Strittmatter said. “We tried to come back in the second half but we were in a big hole.”

Oakton continued to take advantage of draw controls and ground balls making it difficult for Chantilly to maintain possession. Norwood rocketed one past the Cougar keeper on a free position with 14:39 left to play, but it was the closest the Chargers would get at 16-8. The captain is headed to play lacrosse at Longwood College in the fall and said she is thrilled with how well her team performed throughout the season.

“I can’t express how proud I am of my team. We lost a lot of players last year and so many people have stepped up this year, and we made it all the way to the state semifinals,” Norwood said. “I think that’s an amazing season. We only had three losses, had a really good season and I’m proud of it.”

On a positive note, Chantilly keeper Elizabeth Graviano had a solid dozen saves throughout the match to keep her team in fighting distance. Still, Oakton’s offense was on fire, passing with precision downfield and setting up its attack from behind the net. The Chargers would fall 23-12, but could hold their heads high as they won more than 20 games with only three losses on the year.

“We just had a really off game. Honestly, its not the team that showed up the rest of the season,” Chantilly Coach Tina Plaugher said. “I’m very proud, they had an amazing season and this is just not the best way to end it, but they’re a very talented group of girls and I feel very blessed to have been able to work with them.”