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Purcellville (May 29, 2010) - The Loudoun Valley High School girls lacrosse team claimed its third consecutive AAA Northwest Region title on Friday with a 16-12 victory over Cedar Run District rival Battlefield.
The Vikings senior tri-captains -- Shannon Harkey, Morgan Becker and Sophie Swan -- led Valley (16-2) to the win by combining for 12 goals and six assists. Sophomore Maggie Beglau made her first start of the season in goal for the Vikes and made nine saves.
The Loudoun Valley boys were not able to make it twin titles on the night as Osbourn Park scored a late goal to stun the Vikes, 9-8.
Valley senior tri-captains Shannon Harkey, Morgan Becker and Sophie Swan after Friday's regional title win
It was an emotional win for the Loudoun Valley girls that had to play after the dismissal from the team earlier in the day of two keys players -- a first team all-district senior attack and the starting junior goalie, a second team all-district selection -- for unspecified violations.
The Vikings had plenty of firepower to handle the Bobcats for a fourth time this season -- with 14-5 and 12-9 regular season wins and a 15-6 win in the district title game -- as Becker, Harkey, Swan and Andrea Mustacchio have all scored more than 50 points on the season.
Harkey finished Friday with six goals and three assists to give her 52 goals and 39 assists on the season. Becker added four goals and two assists and now has 38 and 27 total. Swan scored twice with an assist to give her 37 goals and 22 assists total. Mustachio finished with two goals and two assists to giver her 35 goals and 21 assists on the year.
The four players combined have 162 goals and 109 assists on the season and prevent teams from keying defensively on just one Viking scorer.
Valley was also good in this title game when the ball was loose as 12 Vikes combined to control 22 ground balls.
In the boys game, Osbourn Park had never beaten Loudoun Valley but the Yellowjackets took control with two goals in the final minute of a then scoreless first quarter.
It took Valley until the third quarter to catch up with Denis Radcliffe scoring early to make it 4-4 and then Matt McGuinness put the Vikes up for the first time, 5-4, with 6:30 left in the quarter. OP's Nick Leporatti tied it back up with 1:37 to play in the quarter but Valley went back ahead, 6-5, on Chris Rabung's score with 34 seconds left before the fourth.
OP retook the lead in the fourth with two goals in just over a minute span with Matt Reichard of OP give the Yellowjackets the 7-6 lead with 8:26 left in the contest. Leporatti then scored with 7:13 to go for a 2-goal cushion.
The Vikes looked as if they would finish strong for a comeback as Tyler Ikwild scored from a McGuinness assist with 6:07 left and then Syracuse bound-Chris Daddio found the back of the net to tie the game with just under five minutes to play.
Valley had possession with less than two minutes to play but turned the ball over and OP, which had shown a good transition game all night, quickly moved the ball down the field with Devin Bushweller rifling a shot on the run with 1:12 left for the 9-8 OP lead. Seconds later Valley got off a final shot attempt from the outside that was easily handled by the OP goalie and the Yellowjackets were able to run the clock out on their end and a wild celebration was set off after the final horn as parents and students joined the OP team on the field to soak up the big win.
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