The Yorktown Patriots captured their third state lacrosse title by finishing strong in the championship game.
Yorktown (21-1) won the Virginia High School League Class 6 state-tournament crown in Richmond after rallying to defeat the Madison Warhawks, 16-14, in the final Saturday (June 14) at Douglas Freeman High School.
The state championship was the second straight for Yorktown, adding to one in 2022. All came under head coach Jenny Keimig, who has more than 100 wins as the Patriots’ leader.
The state-final victory avenged a 12-8 loss to Madison days earlier in the 6D North Region tourney.
Yorktown senior defender/midfielder Emme Yoder said a key to the comeback in the state final was a timeout after falling behind 5-1.
“We made adjustments during that timeout and we all got pumped up,” Yoder told ARLnow. “Our coach told us to keep playing our game because there was a lot of time left and the score didn’t matter. We started winning some draws after that, started getting more shots and that all gave us momentum.”
In the state final, Yorktown struggled to control the ball early in the match, falling behind by early 2-0 and 5-1 scores. The Patriots made some adjustments to better win draw controls and keep possession, and mounted a determined comeback.
Yoder and Helene Lydon helped to win some of those draws.
“I reminded them not to crumble. It was about cleaning up our own errors, winning draw controls, attacking the goal and tightening up our defense,” Keimig said.
Yorktown trailed 6-3 after the first quarter, 9-8 at halftime and 11-8 late in the third period. The Patriots then went on a 7-0 scoring run to take a 15-11 lead en route to the victory.
During that run, senior attack Olivia Burgeson, who finished with 104 career points, scored all four of her goals in the game, including the go-ahead tally, giving the Patriots the lead for good at 12-11 with 5:57 to play.
“Olivia took over there and brought us back,” Yoder said. “It just took time to figure things out.”
Said Keimig: “We had a phenomenal fourth quarter and were dominating. It showed determination and resilience not to back down.”
Burgeson was one of nine goal-scorers in the final for Yorktown. Lila Almy scored three times; Lydon and Virginia Beall twice each; and Iris Taphorn, Corinne Rigoli, Mairin Almy, Lilah Dalley and Mila Perez each netted one.
Dalley added three assists and played a big role in gathering ground balls to gain possessions off draws.
In goal for Yorktown, Victoria Carcillo played one of her best games, making multiple big saves, especially in the final three quarters, to spark the comeback. A number of her saves came on free-possession shots. She made four straight saves in a key second-half stretch.
“Those saves by her were very big,” Keimig said.
Carcillo was the winning keeper in all three state-tourney games.
Yorktown was 3-0 in the state tournament, routing the host West Potomac Wolverines, 22-2, in the first round, then nipping the host Battlefield Bobcats, 12-10, in the semifinals.
Rigoli scored five goals against West Potomac; Lydon had four; Mairin Almy, Beall and Dalley three each; and Burgeson two. Lucy Greene, Katherine McClellan and Lila Almy had one each.
Against Battlefield, Rigoli and Lydon scored three each; Burgeson two; and Mairin Almy, Lila Almy, Dalley and Perez one each. Burgeson had a couple of assists.
NOTES: Yoder, Mairin Almy and goalie Kelly Brown also played on Yorktown’s state-championship field hockey team during the fall. Yoder finished her high-school career with five state championships, three in lacrosse and two in field hockey. She keeps her state-title medals on her bedroom dresser. “I look at them every day,” Yoder said … Yorktown’s all-time record in state-tournament play is 9-0 … Yorktown and Madison played three times this season, with Yorktown winning a regular-season match at Madison, 18-13.
