Chatham County’s two high school girls lacrosse teams — Northwood and Seaforth — met for the second time this season Wednesday, a game which occurred after press time. Coming into the matchup, the two teams had experienced very different levels of success this spring.
The Chargers — who came into the game with a 5-3 overall record and 3-2 in conference play — won the first matchup between the two teams, 19-4, on March 6. Both Northwood and Seaforth are competing as part of the same conference, which also features talented teams East Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill and Carrboro. Those three teams had a combined record of 21-4 entering this week’s games.
Leading the charge for Northwood this season on offense has been senior Mia Collins, who had a team-high 32 goals coming into Wednesday’s game against Seaforth. She’s well on her way to breaking her career high of 46, which she set as a junior last season.
Three other Chargers — junior Ryan Tinervin (23), senior Grace Costa (21) and senior Sophie Cremeans (16) have at least 15 goals, while Cremeans leads the team with 11 assists and Costa paces the squad with 56 ground balls and 35 draw controls. In goal, sophomore Silvy Hopp has 49 saves over 345 minutes of action.
“We wouldn’t be the team we are without (our seniors),” said Northwood head coach Larry Fritsche. “That starts with practices, and it starts with what happens outside of practices. You can see when we’re out there playing. We’re not just looking to just dish it to our high-performance players. It’s a team focus.”
Last season, Northwood boasted a 12-4 overall record. The Chargers reached the second round of the state playoffs before falling to Holly Springs, 22-10.
Seaforth, meanwhile, came into Wednesday’s game with an 0-6 record. Despite being winless, the Hawks have plenty to be proud in their first season as a varsity program. Head coach Charles Davis’ squad almost pulled out its first-ever win in a 9-8 double-overtime loss to Jordan (Durham) High on March 20, and the Hawks came into the game against Northwood averaging more than seven goals per game this season.
Seaforth’s roster features two juniors, four sophomores and 19 freshmen. The Hawks have been led in attack this season by freshman Renee Rizvi, who had 15 goals over five games entering this week. Fellow freshmen Kylyn Schlosser and Grace Davis led the team with three assists each.
Girls lacrosse is the only sport at Seaforth without a junior varsity team, but the plan is to add one sometime over the next several seasons while the program grows its numbers.
“I couldn’t be happier with the milestone we’ve reached in the county this year,” Fritsche said of Seaforth finally adding a varsity team. “A few years ago, it feels like we were just getting rec off the ground. That’s a lot of dedicated coaches, parents and kids persisting.”
Sports Editor Jeremy Vernon can be reached at jeremy@chathamnr.com or on Twitter at @jbo_vernon.