Broad Run LAX Sweeps Region Semis

By Paul Tenorio

Monday, May 18, 2009

For the second consecutive year both the Broad Run boys' and girls' lacrosse team are headed to the state tournament.

With a pair of decisive victories at home in Ashburn, the Spartans' boys and girls now sit one win away from Virginia AA Region II titles and have secured a berth in the state playoffs to begin next week.

The girls started the action off on Monday by dominating Charlottesville, 19-4, in an offensive display that showcased the depth of a team that this year completed a four-year undefeated run in Virginia AA Dulles District play.

Charlottesville goalkeeper Annie Foky looked as if she would make things interesting early saving the first seven shots she faced early in the game. But Broad Run finally broke through when Mary Mitesser found the net with 19:51 to play in the first half and that opened the floodgates.

The Spartans would score again nine seconds later on a long run by senior Meredith Rogers, and after another six-minute drought, closed out the half with eight goals in the final 13:24 to open up a commanding 10-0 lead.

"She's probably one of the best goalies I've ever seen to be completely honest," Broad Run junior Nina Dunay said. "I guess we could tell where her strengths were. She could easily stop bounce shots so we just started to shoot high and that's when we started to draw away and score."

Five players combined for the first six goals of the night for Broad Run, and 10 different scorers had at least one goal for the Spartans. Five different players had multigoal games, led by Mitesser and Kate Sistare with four each and Rogers, Kailey Phillips and Dunay (three goals apiece).

With the win, Broad Run now advances to the Region II final on Wednesday, a game that not only will provide an opportunity at the regional title but also will impact seeding in the state tournament.

"Last year we didn’t win regionals so we were seeded lower and ended up playing Chantilly right out of the starting blocks," Spartans Coach Jen Melhuish said. "Which is kind of difficult to do. You want to get a couple AAA teams in there before you get a team like Chantilly."

In the second game of the doubleheader, the Broad Run boys were not to be outdone, and took over from the outset against Western Albemarle in a 14-4 victory.

Junior Andrew Londos scored two first quarter goals to help the Spartans open up a commanding 6-0 lead early, and despite a low-scoring second period in which Broad Run did not score for the final 10:07 of the quarter, the Spartans held a commanding 8-0 lead at the half.

Broad Run continued to push in the third quarter and added five more goals, three from Londos, to add to its lead, and cruised to the win.

Londos led Broad run with five goals, while senior Kyle Ward added four and sophomore Ryan Madigan had three.

The game was a change of pace from the one-goal victories Broad Run experienced in the district tournament against Briar Woods and Dominion, and Coach Dave Forman said he hoped the team had taken lessons from those gut-check games.

"It was just what the doctor ordered, so to speak," Forman said of the two tight contests. "Come up on the winning end of one of those is what you want, you don’t want to trip over yourself. But it is really what we needed to have. We needed to have that kind of test."

Tagged: Broad Run High School, Dominion High School, high school sports, lacrosse, Loudoun County High School

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