BE girls lacrosse ranked No. 1 in the state
After finishing state runners-up two of the past three seasons, Bishop England girls’ lacrosse coach Jeff Weiner expected 2016 to be a rebuilding season. As it turns out, it was more like a reload. The Bishops own a 6-0 record and the No. 1 ranking in the state heading into this week’s action.
“The difference is, this year we had to replace five seniors from last year’s team,” said Weiner who brought his lacrosse expertise from up North to the Lowcountry nearly a decade ago. “We lost most of our offense. We scored 350 goals and 250 goals were lost to graduation. It was kind of up in the air how we would do this year.”
The Bishops proved their ranking last week with an 11-9 victory over rival Wando. The Bishops jumped to a 7-1 lead and then had to hold on against the Warriors, who made the trip to Jack Cantey Stadium.
Sophomore attack Emma Pizzo led Bishop England with seven goals and an assist. She leads the state with 35 goals and could be the Bishops’ first NCAA Division I lacrosse player.
“She has the potential,” Weiner said. “Now, it’s just a matter of putting in the work.”
Senior Rachel Banton added a career-best three goals and assisted another. Ava Ward came up with five ground balls and Ellie Petyak tallied four.
The team is young with 16 players on the roster, including nine underclassmen. There are four seniors, three juniors – including two goalies – five sophomores and four freshmen.
“We’re very young,” Weiner said. “The issue was bringing freshmen up from the junior varsity to play. With all those new freshmen, we have some players who are not used to playing with the intensity that is required at this level. Going into the season, I would have been happy with a 10-4 record. Now, it looks like we can go 12-1, 13-0 or something like that.”
The Bishops were scheduled to play Myrtle Beach over the weekend, but the game was cancelled because of a threatening weather forecast.
The Bishops were scheduled to play St. James on March 22 and then face a big challenge nine days later when Charlotte Catholic comes to town.
“At this point, Charlotte Catholic looks like the toughest remaining game on our (regular-season) schedule,” Weiner said. “They have one of the top teams in North Carolina and this is going to be a test. If we play like we’re capable of, we can win it. But it’s going to be a challenge.”
The Bishops handled a big challenge against Wando, a team the Bishops beat last spring en route to the state title game.
“We needed a victory against a team like Wando to show the younger players that we can play with a very talented team.” Weiner said. “It gives them confidence. The girls on our team are friends with the players from Wando, so that makes it a little more interesting.”
The Bishops hope the season ends differently this spring. They lost to J.L. Mann 13-11 in last year’s state championship. Two years ago, they lost to Wando in overtime in the Lower State championship. In 2013, J.L. Mann edged the Bishops 15-14 in the title game.
“If I were to rank us in the preseason, it would have been at (No.) 5 or 6,” Weiner said. Ägain, that’s because I didn’t know how our young players would respond. I’ve been pleasantly surprised.”