Heritage girls lacrosse advances past Enloe in first round of playoffs

Caroline Savage led the Heritage girls lacrosse team in goals during the regular season, and Tuesday night during the first round of the N.C. High School Athletic Association playoffs she picked up right where she left off. H

er game-leading five goals led the Huskies to a 14-10 victory over Enloe, sending them to a second round matchup with Broughton on Friday night.

Enloe (8-9) was the first on the scoreboard with a goal by Alex Almasy, but the Huskies (9-6) then fired off six straight goals to take a lead that they would never lose. About midway through the first half, the Huskies scored four goals in the span of 1 minute, 30 seconds, including two in 14 seconds to take a stranglehold of the game. Savage scored two of these four, and Madison Bradley and Sydney Garff scored the other two.

“Anytime they play together as a team I think it causes that (success),” Heritage coach Michelle Kline said referring to the six straight goals. “They had some really good passes and some really good assists and every time they start that it all kind of clicks and comes together.”

Down by six in the first half, Enloe showed why they were the first Eagles team in eight years to make the girls lacrosse playoffs. On goals by Abby Stauffer, Maryssa Almasy, and Carolina Malarkey the Eagles climbed back to within two as the half ended.

When the halftime buzzer sounded the Huskies led 6-4.

Heritage then came running out of the gates to begin the second half. Sydney Garff scored just 22 seconds into the half and Jessica Beach scored to stretch the lead to 8-4 less then two minutes later.

For the remainder of the second half, the teams traded goals nearly equally and Heritage came out victorious with a 14-10 win.

While her girls came up short, Enloe head coach Susan Kummerle had nothing but praise for her team and their season.

“This team means a lot to all of Enloe,” Kummerle said. “We were grateful to get an opportunity to play in the postseason, and it’s a true testament to hard work that we were able to get here.”

Now Heritage will look onward toward their second round opponent, Broughton, whom they just played on April 25. While the Huskies dropped that game 20-5, Heritage coach Michelle Kline hopes that this Friday her team will come out more aggressive and ready for their opponents.

“I’m hoping that when we come out we are aggressive because I think that the last time we played them we were a bit more timid,” said Klein. “I think our team is better then what we showed them last time and I know that we can successful.”

The second round game will be played at Broughton on Friday night as part of a doubleheader. The Caps’ boys team hosts Jack Britt.

This story was originally published May 3, 2017 at 9:55 AM with the headline "Heritage girls lacrosse advances past Enloe in first round of playoffs."