<b>W-L Girls Lacrosse Looking for Offense</b>
First-year Washington-Lee girls lacrosse coach Jenni Mac Intosh praised the Generals’ defensive effort after their April 9 game at Yorktown. But, as Mac Intosh pointed out, defense will only get you so far as W-L struggled to generate offense in an 11-2 loss.
"I don’t think that they played their best," the coach said of her team. "I think that we’re doing some things really well. They are holding the zone really well on defense. I think defense, collectively, we’re coming together as a unit. But defense can’t play the entire game and defense certainly can’t win a game and where we’re losing it is in the midfield and our offense."
Mac Intosh said W-L attempted five or six shots against Yorktown, a number she wants to be around 20 or 30 per contest. Annie Buckalew scored W-L’s first goal with six minutes remaining in the first half, cutting Yorktown’s lead to 9-1. Dominique McNairy-Dixon scored early in the second half to cut the Generals’ deficit to 9-2.
Mac Intosh said the Generals need to execute with "confidence, communication and intelligence" on offense.
W-L opened the season with victories over T.C. Williams and Stuart but lost its next four, including defeats against Fairfax, Dominion and Jefferson.
Mac Intosh mentioned Sophie Kiendl, Sandra McCartin, Meredith Randle, Marky Duarte, Mandy Maggio, Buckaloo and McNairy-Dixon as standouts.
<b>Yorktown Opens Crews Season with Big Day</b>
The Yorktown rowing team opened its 2010 season with a strong showing at the Darrell Winslow Regatta at Sandy Run Park, Occoquan. The Yorktown women's team won every eight-oared event they entered, taking first place in the women's first eight, second eight, freshman eight and novice eight events.
The Patriot women's first eight, stroked by senior Paige Monborne, cruised through the morning heats winning by 8 seconds or "open water" over rival powerhouse Robinson. The women's second eight also looked very strong with an open-water win in the heats and a three-second win in the finals over Robinson and Thomas Jefferson. The Patriot women continued the overpowering performance with another open-water win by the freshman women's eight in their first competitive effort winning by 27 seconds over their closest rival. Even in the novice eight the Patriot women came out on top in their flight of five, winning by 20 seconds over their closest rivals.
The Yorktown men proved strong as well, winning the men's junior eight and third eight events and placing second in the hotly contested men's first eight, behind an impressive crew from Thomas Jefferson. The Patriot men are the defending Virginia state champions in the men's first eight and in their first competitive outing of the season finished open water ahead of the field in second place, but 10 seconds back from TJ.
The Yorktown junior eight, made up of an all-sophomore crew, stroked by Andrew Knizner, pushed ahead of TJ for the one-length win. The Yorktown men's third eight finished ahead of TJ for the first time in school history in this category. TJ caught one of its oars in ropes that hold together the race course buoy line and fell far back on the field. Three-V stroke man sophomore Adrian Blust summed up the day for Yorktown: "I don't care how or why it happened, but it sure felt great to be out in front."
The two Yorktown men's novice eights finished second in the freshman race and third in their novice flight and look to be very competitive this season, too. The Yorktown freshmen men were silver medalists at states last year.
<b>Yorktown Boys Tennis Sweeps Competition</b>
The Yorktown boys tennis team swept its three matches last week, including a decisive 6-3 victory over rival Washington-Lee, bringing its National District record to 5-1 so far this season.
The Patriots closed out their match with W-L, which had ended in a 3-3 tie after rain delay on March 23, with strong wins in all three doubles matches to give it the 6-3 overall victory on April 6. Yorktown also beat both Hayfield and Mount Vernon 9-0 in other matches last week.
Patriots Coach Dave Barton cited outstanding singles and doubles wins by Matt Karvelas (No. 1), Aidan Papavizas (No. 3) and Eamonn Delacy (No. 6) as key to Yorktown’s victory over W-L. Also contributing to the crucial doubles wins which decided the match were Sky Leyden (No. 1 doubles with Karvelas), Ben Martindale (No. 2 doubles with Papavizas), and Danny Yeatman (No. 3 doubles with Delacy).
As Yorktown approaches the halfway point of the season, the team is well-positioned in National District play so far, with just a single loss (to Stuart).