Millbrook girls’ lacrosse takes control early against Heritage

While the Cap-8 Conference title might be out of reach, the Millbrook girls’ lacrosse team is doing everything it can before it enters the state playoffs.

The Wildcats never trailed Tuesday, taking command early on their way to a 20-6 victory over visiting Heritage behind a five-goal performance from Olivia Luckinbill.

Bayley Olson added four goals, and Dana Florian and McCaine Brandt tallied three each for Millbrook (10-3, 4-1 Cap-8) in what was a most pleasant home finale for its seven seniors.

While not likely to catch Cap-8 leaders Wakefield and Broughton, Millbrook coach Matthew Cope’s squad still has significant goals the rest of the season.

“We’ve got three games left to go, which is a great opportunity for us to do some things,” Cope said. “We can set the school record for most wins, and we can make it really hard for the (NCHSAA) selection committee to say that a 13-3 or 12-4 team doesn’t get an at-large bid into the playoffs.

“They have a lot to play for, which is why this was a big day for us.”

Millbrook narrowly won at Heritage, 12-9, on March 8, when the two teams met earlier this season.

It was considerably more lopsided on Tuesday. The Wildcats led 11-5 at halftime and scored the first four goals of the second half to build a double-digit lead. Heritage fell to 7-6 and 3-2 in the Cap-8 with the loss.

“Something we’ve been working on in practices lately has been fast starts. We don’t do stick work, we don’t do basic skills at the beginning of practice, we just go out and we play as fast as we can,” Cope said. “We’ve noticed over the last four games we’ve had a much quicker start in the game and getting earlier goals which was something that was lacking before.”

Turning point

After Heritage’s Lexi Beaudet scored with 15 minutes, 37 seconds remaining in the first half to draw the Huskies within 4-3, Millbrook answered with three straight goals.

Brandt scored right off the draw just 12 seconds after Beaudet’s goal and Luckinbill followed with back-to-back goals to put Millbrook ahead 7-3 with just under 10 minutes left in the first half. Heritage got no closer than three goals the rest of the way.

They said it

“This year has been totally life-changing for me as an athlete,” said Millbrook senior attack Chloe Starr, a fourth-year varsity player. “I’m so proud to be on this team this year, last year we did amazing things and we matched last season’s win total which we’re happy with, but I see us doing a lot more. … We’re such a unified team this season, everyone knows where everyone is on the field.”

Three to know

Dana Florian, Millbrook: The sophomore midfielder was a two-way standout Tuesday, forcing several turnovers on the defensive end while scoring three goals and helping set up scoring opportunities for her teammates.

Olivia Luckinbill, Millbrook: Four of her match-high five goals came in the first half, enabling the Wildcats to build a comfortable lead early.

Sydney Garff, Heritage: Led the Huskies with three goals and an assist, she was one of the few offensive bright spots for Heritage.

This story was originally published April 19, 2016 at 10:33 PM with the headline "Millbrook girls’ lacrosse takes control early against Heritage."