After a spectacular regular season, Boys’ Varsity Lacrosse will play their last game in the Region 5c bracket against the Freeman Mavericks on May 25. In their last game, the Trojans were able to fight through adversity against Mills Godwin; beating the Eagles 12-8 heading into their Regional Championship game. Meanwhile, the Mavericks are a game removed from handling the Deep Run Wildcats by a score of 11-5 in the quarterfinals.
The Trojans fell behind early against Mills Godwin with a 3-1 deficit to overcome. After two goals from Patrick Babier, Midlothian would then tie with the Eagles twice in the second period before Godwin took a 5-4 lead heading into halftime. In the second half, Midlothian’s offense disappeared for 13 minutes before going on an 8-4 from the end of the third period to the entire fourth period. Late game execution has been a strength for Midlothian all season long and they were able to make the necessary adjustments in the second half to give them a four point advantage as they head to neutral territory against Freeman.
“Everybody contributed in a game where we were down multiple times in the first three periods,” Senior Wessley Hazzard said. “Landon’s impact was felt with his hatrick, we had big time saves from Hayden in the second half, and we were able to create many advantages in the middle of the field for our team to tally up 12 goals.”
The Trojans are going to have one of their tougher tasks of the season as they face a Mavericks team that was the best offensive unit in the colonial region this season. Up to this point, Freeman has an offense that accumulated for 208 goals primarily due to them being able to attack the middle of the field off of takeaways. According to Coach Banard, he recognized this strength in their last meeting and will look to neutralize the counter-attacks from Freeman.
“In our 16-14 win against Freeman on May 3, they were able to keep the game close because of them controlling the middle of the field,” Coach Banard stated. “If we want to be regional champions on Thursday, we have to ensure that the Mavericks won’t get as much counter-attack in the middle of the field by shrinking their air space and sending multiple defenders at them.”
The Mavericks and Trojans will be meeting for the first time in the postseason since their match in May of 2022. Midlothian struggled to create advantages for themselves in the open field offensively in the beginning stages of the first half. Because of that, it resulted in a 13-6 win for the Mavericks in their path to becoming the defending Region 5c Champions. Due to the maturation of this team, Coach Banard addressed how his team believes they have surpassed the Mavericks and every team in the state as they prepare for their epic title game on Thursday Night.
“This group is an experienced and talented team that believes they can compete with anybody in the state,” Coach Banard said. “However, we were fortunate enough to beat this team early in the season. Because of that, we are motivated to capture our region first before we even think about winning a state championship.”
