Fox Lane girls fall short vs. Yorktown in lacrosse Sectional tournament

By JIM MACLEAN 

It was a familiar scenario for the Fox Lane girls varsity lacrosse team. After a great regular season where the Foxes finished with a 16-1 record, Fox Lane entered the Section 1 Class A tournament as the number two-seed, cruised in the first round past Carmel, and hosted No. 3 seed Yorktown in the semifinals on May 29.

Dylan New

Last year, Fox Lane hosted Yorktown in the semifinals and the Huskers defeated the Foxes and went on to win the championship. This time, the Foxes knew it would be a tough test, and once again the Huskers were able to take control and pull away for a 14-8 victory to advance to the finals, while the Foxes had a disappointing ending to another great season with a 17-2 overall record.

“It was a tough one, we played hard, made some mistakes here and there, they were very good on the draws and we weren’t winning any, and we had some offensive opportunities where we hit the post or turned it over, it just didn’t go our way,” said Fox Lane coach Jaime Williams. “I told the girls to keep their heads up, we had a heck of a season with one of the youngest teams I’ve ever coached. We had a seventh grader, two eighth graders and two ninth-graders starting, and the girls played great all season long.”

Fox Lane started off well in the first quarter, determined to give the Huskers a tough game. Yorktown jumped out to a 1-0 lead with a goal by Ava Ryan, but the Fox Lane defense and goalie Molly Rodriguez stood tall on two ensuing possessions for the Huskers with Madyson Greene and Phoebe Fisher coming up steals and clears for the Foxes.

Down the other end of the field, Dylan New took a pass from Michaela Kaltsas, made a move to the goal and finished it off for her first goal of the game to tie it up at 1-1 at the 10-minute mark.

Taylor Webb

Fox Lane then took its first and only lead of the game as Cora Moore scored off an assist from Kaltsas a minute later to make it 2-1.

However, Yorktown responded with Ryan leading the way. Ryan scored her 100th career goal to even it up at 2-2, and the Huskers took the lead for good, closing out the first quarter with a 3-2 lead.

Yorktown scored the first two goals of the second quarter to take a 5-2 lead. New scored her second goal of the game with less than a minute left in the half, but the Foxes didn’t hold the momentum long as the Huskers won the ensuing draw and scored with just 22 seconds left to make it 6-3 at halftime.

The Huskers carried the momentum into the second half and scored to make it 7-3, but once again New responded for the Foxes with her third goal of the game for the hat trick at 7:43 to cut the lead down to 7-4.

It was 9-4 after another goal from Ryan and a goal from Lily Diaz for the Huskers. Taylor Webb answered with a goal for Fox Lane to cut the lead down to 9-5, but once again Yorktown was able to score in the final minute of the quarter to take a 10-5 lead.

New gave the Foxes hope heading into the final period as she answered before the bell with four seconds left in the third quarter, scoring her fourth goal of the game to make it 10-6.

“Dylan, the second half of the season she just started taking off, finding her confidence, she’s been playing really well,” Williams said of New.

Fox Lane carried the momentum over into the fourth quarter as Kaltsas scored to make it 10-7, but Yorktown answered with four-straight goals, two of them from Ryan, to put the game away. Phoebe Skinner scored the final goal of the game off an assist from Taylor Webb to make the final score 14-8.

Julia Sirchia

It was the final game of an incredible high school career for senior captains Moore and Kaltsas as they both left their names in the record books among the all-time leading scorers for the Foxes. Moore will go on to play at Jacksonville College in Florida, while Kaltsas will play at Williams College in Massachusetts.

“Cora and Michaela have been with me for eight years and I’ve seen so much growth from both of them,” Williams said of Moore and Kaltsas. “To watch them develop into such great players, two of the best players in the section, they’re going to go on and play at the next level and I can’t wait to watch them. Those are some big shoes to fill, very positive role models for a young team.”

On defense, senior captain Isabel Valenzuela and senior Olivia Wong helped lead the way in front of freshman goalie Molly Rodriguez for the Foxes.

“Isabel stepped up big time, she started last year, but really came into her own this year on defense,” Williams said of Valenzuela. “Olivia Wong is another senior who moved into a starting role this year and she was phenomenal. Our defense has played well all season and kept us in a lot of games.”