Centreville Girls Enter District Playoffs Ranked No. 1

On Wednesday, May 2, the girls lacrosse team advanced to an 11-1 record with a strong 12-9 triumph over their biggest rival, the .

The evening began with a salute to Centreville’s senior players—team captains and Maggie Dulkerian, and goalie Ayana Teran—and ended with the Lady Wildcats taking out years of frustration on their old foe. At the initial face off, Westfield made it known that they were in it to win it—CVHS Senior Night or not.

However, after allowing two goals and being down by two for the first quarter of the game, Centreville had had enough. Taking the lead in an offensive barrage was junior midfielder, Carly Sane, with five goals, two ground balls, three draw controls, and one caused turnover. Teran was magnificent in net, showing no hint that this was her first season.

Beating her defender time and time again against the team’s leading scorer, freshman attacker Reagan Newell had seven shots on goal and drove home three, proving that Westfield’s power was in their goalie. Newell also added two assists, two ground balls, one draw control, and one caused turnover.

Freshman midfielder Caroline Wakefield was remarkable with two goals and three assists (six ground balls, five draw controls and three caused turnovers). At the half, the Lady Wildcats lead by two with center midfielder, Anderson (one goal, one assist), immediately dominating in the center circle and moving the Wildcats one goal closer to the win.

Despite trading goals throughout the second half, Westfield never managed to take the lead again. Also scoring for Centreville was sophomore Katherine Zempolich (one goal, two ground balls, one draw control, one caused turnover). Each player’s intensity on the field left no spectator in doubt of the rivalry between Centreville and Westfield—however, the Lady Wildcats were the decisive winners  of this game.

Centreville Girls Lacrosse now enters the Concorde District playoffs ranked no.1 for the first time in school history. 

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Varsity Boys: Not too many games feature players on each team who have all grown up together, playing lacrosse on the same teams. 

In the final game of both team’s regular season, the boys varsity lacrosse team defeated cross-town and Concorde District rival, , 11-8.  Despite a 5-3 deficit at the half, Centreville came out strong in the third quarter, scoring several unanswered goals to tie the game. The lead went back and forth until midway through the fourth quarter, when the Wildcats took control of the game.

Senior Zack Sikora and Junior Andy Balberde were leading scorers for Centreville, with three goals each. Also helping with goals were Danny Meador (two), Nathan Marks (one), Tyler Vennergrund (one) and Chase Heiner (one).  Lending assists to the goals were Zack Sikora, Andy Balberde and Nathan Marks.  

The Wildcat’s defense was led by strong performances by Jake Hyde and Antonio Choi, who were able to minimize Westfield’s normally powerful attack.  Netminder Pat Prosser played a phenomenal game.

Centreville was strong throughout the game with key ground balls by Kainoa O’Connor, Sean Doyle and Chase Heiner. which helped prevent crucial Westfield possessions late in the game. From start to finish, the Wildcats played strong team defense. Westfield struggled to clear the ball all night due to the strong rides from the Wildcat’s attack and middies. Centreville ends the season with 10 wins and four losses. 

Boys' JV: A recent weekend got off to a good start for the Centreville JV boys lacrosse team with an 11-3 victory over on Friday, April 27. 

The tone was set in the first quarter on Wildcat goals by Aaron Mendenhall, Alex Rizzi, and Kyle Roarty. Mark Mahoney got an assist and Rizzi got two, one coming off a steal behind the Herndon goal. Herndon scored with nine seconds left in the first quarter, but Centreville’s defense held the Hornets in check for the rest of the half while Wildcats Rizzi and Corey Spriggs added goals. Great stick checks and pressure throughout the game limited the number of Herndon shots on goal. The Wildcat defense is anchored by Michael Bollman, Ben Kandel, Josh Kim, Charlie Suarez and goalie Kyle Evans. 

Fancy footwork and steals led to third quarter Centreville goals by Elliot Cunningham (2) and Tommy Bowden. The Hornets managed their second goal of the game in the fourth quarter, but a quick response came from Tommy Callahan, with an assist from John McKittrick. The Wildcats gave up a man-down goal with three minutes to go, but Cunningham dodged through the Hornet defense for a hat trick goal and Callahan scored again off a nice feed from Tyler Nevlud for the final score of 11-3.  

The Centreville JV boys lacrosse team dropped its last game of the season by a score of 4-10 on Wednesday, May 2 at . Stunned by a Bulldog goal in the first 12 seconds of the game, the Wildcats struck back quickly with three goals of their own. A shot that bounced out of the crease was snagged by Elliot Cunningham, who converted the rebound for a 1-1 tie. A few minutes later, Alex Rizzi scored an unassisted goal for the lead after sprinting from behind the goal.  Several more trips up and down the field provided a lot of action, but not many shots until Cunningham made another goal with an assist from Rizzi. Westfield scored at the horn as the first ended with a score of 3-2. 

Westfield tied the game in the second quarter, but the Wildcats regained the lead on an amazing, falling-down shot by Cunningham. The Bulldog defense tightened after that and its offense did a better job controlling the ball, surging with four more goals before the half. Westfield continued to win face-offs in the second half and used a very deliberate offense to maintain possession, scoring once more in the third and twice in the fourth quarter.

The JV boys finished the season with a record of 6-4-1.

—Lance Bowden and Eileen Balberde