The Washington Post - USA (2022-06-12)

SUNDAY, JUNE 12 , 2022. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ SU D9

High Schools

“We wake up early for those

8 a.m. Saturday practices; we get

into it and chirp each other a little

bit. But that’s what we build for,

for this Saturday,” said Kasoff,

who was unsure about the nature

of his injury. “People were chirp-

ing us from the stands, but we’re

prepared for that because of those

Saturdays.”

State titles are the standard at

Riverside, according to Coach

Nick Worek, who said former

players who come back to visit the

team occasionally joke that the

high school program is tougher

than their college teams.

Briar Woods (15-6) spent much

of the game struggling to get past

Riverside’s defenders and let

24 minutes transpire between its

first and second goals. The Rams

beat the Falcons two previous

times this year.

Once the Rams’ 12th goal

zipped into the net, this one cour-

tesy of Paschuck on a behind-the-

back shot with two seconds re-

maining in the third quarter, the

home crowd and its cowbells

reached peak excitement.

Each year Riverside stamps it-

self with what makes that particu-

lar group unique. This year, the

players said, featured the most

camaraderie.

“It’s just a brotherhood,” Kasoff

said.

Though it took a few missed op-

portunities to get the Rams going,

they eventually found several

open shots and took a 2-0 lead.

Freeman (15-1), though, found

its rhythm soon after Riverside’s

strong start and built an 8-5 lead

by halftime, with several late

goals and commanding showings

from senior Lucy Larkin and ju-

nior Bridget Wilson. Riverside’s

deficit snowballed after Free-

man’s 4-1 run to open the second

half.

Still, the Rams could celebrate

their seniors, such as Lauren

Greig, who racked up more than

100 assists in 2021 and 2022 com-

bined, played with a chipped

tooth and suffered broken bones

during her time with the Rams.

Joining her was Brooklyn Mor-

rison, who repeatedly called the

team “a family”; Emily Robinson,

who described the conclusion of

their careers as a “full-circle mo-

ment”; and Emma Scott, whom

Coach Kristan Ash described as

the team’s quiet leader and a

“groundball vacuum.”

“I would say a lot of people join

sports because they see it as a way

to participate in school, but spe-

cifically this team, I think, is the

epitome of friendship,” Scott said.

“These coaches become your sec-

ond mothers over time, and these

girls become your sisters.”

SCOTT TAETSCH FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

Madison won its second state title in the past three postseasons. “There’s nothing like it,” said D aniel Jacobs, who w as on the 2019 team.

BY KYLE MELNICK

With her Yorktown girls’ la-

crosse team possessing a large

lead early in the second half Sat-

urday afternoon, Coach Jenny

Tran stepped to the top of the

sideline to calm her players on

offense.

“There’s no rush,” she yelled.

“There’s no rush.”

About three seconds after

Tran’s reminder, attacker Mila

Perez passed to midfielder Olivia

Stafford for a goal that started a

running clock.

In a n Arlington County school’s

first appearance in the Virginia

Class 6 girls’ championship game,

Yorktown made a statement with

its 18-8 win over Battlefield at

Champe High in Aldie.

“It shows that Yorktown has

kind of gotten over that hump,”

said midfielder Emily Stafford,

who was one of four Yorktown

players to score at least three

goals. “We’re here, and then we

want to stay here as well. We can

compete with anyone.”

Wins such as Saturday’s hadn’t

usually come easy for Yorktown

(19-4). When Tran started in Sep-

tember 2017, the Patriots had fin-

ished 8-9 the previous season.

After Tran began fall workouts,

Yorktown improved to 12-4 her

first season. Many of this year’s

seniors played on Yorktown’s ju-

nior varsity team as eighth-grad-

ers in 2018.

With one of Yorktown’s most

talented rosters this season, Tran

made a declaration to her players

in September.

“This is the year where we rise,”

Tran recalled saying, “and we

make a name of ourselves.”

To accomplish that objective,

Yorktown would need to beat

Langley, the Class 6 champion in

2019 and 2021. The Patriots built

confidence by defeating the Sax-

ons on May 17 for their first Liber-

ty D istrict title. In Tuesday’s semi-

finals, Yorktown defeated Lang-

ley again, 11-10, with a late come-

back.

“Langley’s reign is over, and it’s

our turn,” attacker Ainsley Burke

said. “There’s definitely a change

of momentum.”

Against Battlefield (18-3), York-

town built a 10-1 lead late in the

first half. With just over 10 min-

utes remaining, Tran called a

timeout after the Bobcats cut her

team’s deficit to eight.

“I’m not satisfied right now,”

Tran told her players in a huddle.

Yorktown responded by re-

gaining a 10-goal lead with about

four minutes left and restarting

the running clock.

Entering high school, Burke

had no expectations of winning a

state title. But when the clock hit

zero, the senior tossed the ball

across the turf before her team-

mates mobbed her near the

4 0-yard line.

“We wanted this since our

freshman year, and we’ve come

such a long way,” Burke said.

“Going into this season, we said

we want a ring. So then we just

gave it our all all season and gave

it our all today, and we came up

with it.”

VIRGINIA CLASS 6 GIRLS’ LACROSSE FINAL

Tran’s Patriots complete

their rise as s tate power

SCOTT TAETSCH FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

Yorktown’s Ainsley Burke watches her shot go into the net in the

title game vs. Battlefield. “We’ve come such a long way,” she said.

YORKTOWN 18,

BATTLEFIELD 8

There’s no goals after that.”

Levay, who will play at Merri-

mack (Mass.) next year, long de-

sired the elation of winning a

championship. While playing for

Paul VI last year, he lost in the

Virginia Independent Schools

Athletic Association champion-

ship game.

He transferred to Madison to

play his senior season with his

childhood friends. Levay, Jones

and Madison’s other defensemen

had played club lacrosse together

since they were in elementary

school, when they began aspiring

to win a championship.

For Jacobs, the satisfaction af-

ter Saturday’s buzzer felt even

better than in 2019.

“A s a freshman, I didn’t really

get a lot of playing time,” Jacobs

said. “But this year, leading my

team as a captain, there’s nothing

like it.”

to Yorktown in last year’s c hampi-

onship game, were tied at 4. The

Warhawks have thrived in the

second half all season, including

in their 10-7 win over Yorktown in

Wednesday’s semifinals, so they

entered the second half confi-

dent.

But not even their players

could have predicted how domi-

nant they would play. Halfway

through the third quarter, de-

fensemen Toby Kuhns and Ollie

Hau scored to provide Madison

the game’s largest lead. The War-

hawks scored twice more early in

the fourth quarter.

On defense, Madison didn’t

surrender another goal until

15 seconds remained.

“Our chemistry is unmatched

in the whole district, region,

state,” goalkeeper Eric Jones said.

“When we get the communica-

tion up, it’s like putting a seal on.

team wanted it more and which

team had more grit. We j ust want-

ed it that much more.”

Near the start of the season, the

Warhawks (17-4) were unsure

they would contend in the post-

season. After back-to-back losses

between the end of March and the

start of April, Madison extended

its practices. The Warhawks beat

W.T. Woodson by 12 goals in their

season opener March 19, so they

believed they had potential to

fulfill.

At halftime Saturday, Madison

and Battlefield (17-3), which lost

BY KYLE MELNICK

As the lone returning boys’
lacrosse player from Madison’s
2019 state championship team,
defenseman Daniel Jacobs spent
all spring conveying the joy of
winning to his teammates. The
senior even wrote a 750-word
essay for class about one of his
life’s happiest moments.
After Madison’s 8-5 win over
Battlefield in the Virginia Class 6
championship game Saturday af-
ternoon, Jacobs’s teammates un-
derstand his point.
Behind a dominant second half
at Champe High in Aldie, the
Fairfax County program won its
second championship in the past
three postseasons.
“It feels amazing,” defenseman
Gavin Levay said. “Everything we
worked towards all came down to
this. It really came down to which

VIRGINIA CLASS 6 BOYS’ LACROSSE FINAL

Warhawks recapture their 2019 glory

MADISON 8,

BATTLEFIELD 5

Madison again pulls away

with a strong second half

BY SPENCER NUSBAUM

Riverside midfielder Benny Ka-
soff played just three minutes in
Saturday’s Virginia Class 5 boys’
lacrosse state final before the sen-
ior grabbed his left knee and went
to the ground. Just a few days
after he was named Region 5D
player of the year, Kasoff saw his
high school career end about an
hour earlier than expected as he
limped off the field and left the
area’s most dominant team with-
out its most dominant player.
“Me and him are basically pea-
nut butter and jelly; that’s my b est
friend,” senior Evan Boswell said.
“Seeing him go down, we just
wanted to play for him, and I
wanted to go all out for him.”
Boswell scored four goals as he
and the extra-motivated Rams se-
cured their fourth state title in

five seasons with a 15-3 win over

Briar Woods at home in Leesburg.

The team’s versatile offense,

which averaged 17 goals per game

and had four players finish the

year with at least 50, again deliv-

ered. With Colton Jones (six goals)

and Chase Paschuck (five goals)

the other prolific scorers, the

Rams finished the season having

won 16 games by double digits.

Riverside (20-1) was used to

putting away games early, and

this one was no different, even

without Kasoff. Employing an of-

fense that more often made extra

passes rather than running in

transition, Riverside went ahead

4-1 midway t hrough the first quar-

ter.

By halftime, the lead had

grown to 7-1. Even after a season of

blowouts, the Rams were ready

for the adversity that came with

the absence of their top player.

They tested themselves with gru-

eling Saturday practices that fea-

tured long hours of running,

weightlifting and competition.

VIRGINIA CLASS 5 BOYS’ LACROSSE FINAL

R iverside extra driven

after top player’s injury

RIVERSIDE 15,

BRIAR WOODS 3

BY SPENCER NUSBAUM

Riverside didn’t want anything

to tarnish its season or its seniors.

So even as the Rams stood teary-

eyed following a 12-8 loss in Sat-

urday’s Class 5 state champion-

ship game against Freeman — the

same team that defeated them in

the 2021 title bout — many of the

girls found something to rally

around: the number seven.

Earlier in the year, after senior

Emma Pickering went down with

her second ACL injury in four

years, the team chose her uniform

number to represent its season.

All year long, intervals of seven

were their markers for success:

They played scrimmages with a

target score of seven goals or did

conditioning with 14 burpees or

21 push-ups. After Saturday’s loss,

the team’s s eniors (coincidentally,

seven of them) found solace in the

season after reflecting on what

their time together represented.

Several of the girls have known

each other since kindergarten.

That senior class includes Lyd-

ia Oldknow, who often found her-

self at the center of the action in

the title game and over the course

of her career, with more than

135 goals across her last two sea-

sons. Fellow offensive star Paige

Fox, who scored two early goals

before picking up two yellow

cards and exiting the game, said

lacrosse shaped her time as a high

school student.

“I always say this, but the one

thing I can take away from high

school, because of how horrible

high school is, is Riverside la-

crosse,” Fox said while laughing.

“Spending every day with these

girls has brought out the best in

me.”

Oldknow and Fox were part of

an offense that struck first and

kept the game close early on in

Ashburn for the Rams (17-3).

VIRGINIA CLASS 5 GIRLS’ LACROSSE FINAL

After coming up short,

Rams keep heads high

FREEMAN 12,

RIVERSIDE 8

their gratitude, some he had

coached for years and some he

had just met.

Masci-isms will remain a focal

point of the new state champions.

Wrighte announced that a list of

the best ones will be posted inside

the dugout for years to come.

“Now all these boys are going

to go o n and continue to teach the

lessons that he taught about

character, being a good sports-

man,” Robin Masci said. “A nd

play to get dirty.”

outs.

None of Masci’s sayings were

baseball-specific, but each one

carried weight to the players.

“He spoke from the heart,”

Proehl said. “A nd you could tell

he really cared about the pro-

gram. To be able to come out and

do this season in his memory has

been really awesome.”

In the days following Masci’s

death, his family received text

messages on his phone from the

players at Freedom expressing

peated a typical Masci-ism: “Fear

is a liar.”

Fear could have come for the

Eagles (24-2) as they carried a

slim 2-0 lead over Herndon into

the bottom of the seventh. Start-

ing pitcher Luke Proehl had not

allowed a hit to that point, but

Kyle Henson led off with one for

the Hornets (19-8).

But even after Henson came

around to score, Freedom closed

the door. Proehl finished off a

complete game with 13 strike-

to a Class 6 title with a 2-1 win

over Herndon on Saturday in

Aldie.

“They told us every game we

attended during this playoff sea-

son... they always made a trib-

ute to him,” said Masci’s daugh-

ter, Robin. “It felt like he was here

in spirit, and we came to repre-

sent him and to see the way they

played.”

The Eagles valued Masci’s in-

put, so before the championship

game, Coach Mark Wrighte re-

Masci never officially worked

at the school, but he coached

many of the players when they

competed in tee-ball and into

Little League, developing their

core skills and love of the game.

Once he stopped actively coach-

ing, he remained a mentor, even-

tually coming to Freedom’s prac-

tices and sharing his “Masci-

isms.”

Masci died at 83 in February,

but his lessons were top of mind

as the Eagles completed their run

BY JACOB RICHMAN

When the sound of a Maserati’s
rumbling engine hit the ears of
any Freedom (South Riding)
baseball player, they would know
to take a knee and prepare for
Ronald Masci to drop some
knowledge.

VIRGINIA CLASS 6 BASEBALL FINAL

One more ‘Masci-ism’: Eagles o≠er a tribute to the players’ beloved mentor

FREEDOM (S.R.) 2,

HERNDON 1