Lacrosse: Lady Bengals Bounce Back, Boys on Streak

Girls

The Blythewood Lady Bengals lacrosse team (9-3, 8-1) won one of their two games last week, rebounding from a 19-4 loss at Mann High School last Saturday. Blythewood split their goals up with two in each half and trailed 12-2 at halftime. The Lady Patriots of Mann are one of the top teams in the state this year and boast a 15-1 record. Mann outshot Blythewood 19-5 and the Lady Patriots spread out their 19 goals among seven different players. Senior Caitlin Walsh led the way for Mann with five goals on five shots. Tanner Rumney, Emma Anderson and Salley Carson all added three apiece.

After that loss the Lady Bengals bounced back with a dominating 16-1 win over the Lady Yellow Jackets (3-9, 2-4) of Irmo on Monday. The Blythewood defense shut out Irmo in the first half and took an 11-0 lead at the break. The Lady Bengals were crisp on offense and only committed two turnovers while bombarding the Irmo defense with 36 shots on goal. The Lady Yellow Jackets mustered only six shots on goal and their lone score came from sophomore Sofia Balaskas. Blythewood closed out the regular season on Thursday (March 28) with a game at Ridge View.

Boys

The Blythewood boys’ lacrosse team (6-5, 6-4) won both of their games this past week. With the Bengals on a three-game winning streak, head coach Kirk Thurston credits their success to the defense.

“Our biggest improvement last week was our team defense,” Thurston said. “We were successful by playing position defense and not overplaying our opponents.”

It started with a 17-4 win over White Knoll on March 21. The Blythewood defense held White Knoll to just 13 shots on goal and won 49 ground balls. The Bengals offense assaulted the Irmo goal with 49 shots and were led in scoring by Michael Carson with five goals. Hunter Whitfield and Alexander Epps netted three goals apiece. Thurston believes passing was the key to his offense’s triumph.

“Offensively, we moved the ball better,” Thurston said. “We were able to find the open player and make that extra pass to create goal scoring opportunities.”

Blythewood continued their winning ways Monday with a 6-4 win over the Yellow Jackets of Irmo (3-10, 3-8). After four early goals in the first quarter, the Bengal defenders shut out Irmo’s attack the rest of the way. The Yellow Jackets only shot 10 times compared to 31 shots on goal by Blythewood. Again, the Bengals were dominant on the ground, winning 62 of the 94 ground balls. After the game Thurston talked about his defense’s prowess and the ability to stay technically sound.

“We had outstanding goal tending,” Thurston said. “And our defense did an excellent job reducing our team penalties.”

With Blythewood trailing 4-3 going into the fourth quarter, the Bengals scored three unanswered goals to earn the victory. Epps led the way offensively with three goals on nine shots. Will James, Vick Faignant and Whitfield all chipped in one goal each. Blythewood played in their regular season finale yesterday (March 28) with a game against Spring Valley.

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