West Forsyth High School

Westminster denies West

Lady Wolverines fall short in championship game

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ATLANTA — West Forsyth’s hopes for a state title hit a big green wall Saturday, as another “West” proved to be best.

Playing on their own field, Westminster’s Wildcats dominated the second half against the visiting Lady Wolverines and rolled to a 22-9 win in the Class A-AAAA girls lacrosse final.

The loss was the only defeat of the year for No. 2 West Forsyth (20-1), who came up a win short of a state title in the program’s third season of competition.

“We knew they were an excellent team coming in. We knew we would have to play as hard as we could, and we did.
I have no issues with our girls. They played their hearts out, they played whistle to whistle for all 50 minutes, and I couldn’t be prouder of the way we played,” Wolverines coach Dan Kaplan said after the game.

“It would have been better to win, obviously ... but we ran into a great team and now we know what we need to do to get better to be in that situation to be a champion.”

After trailing 12-6 at halftime, the Lady Wolverines came out and showed signs of life immediately. Emilee Zabetakis scored two quick goals in the second period, drawing the visitors to within 12-8 with 22:48 to play.

But the No. 1 Lady Wildcats (21-1) quickly squelched any brewing rally, scoring twice in the next 80 seconds to make it a six-goal differential again.

“I think when we closed it [to 12-8] we gained a little momentum. After that, they rolled off two quick goals and we could never get that goal differential to below four and that kind of hurt us,” Kaplan said.

In all, Westminster outscored West Forsyth 10-1 during the final 22 minutes to convincingly wrap up the win.

Mary Beth Bird (five goals), Eve Knapp (four), Milly Macadam (four), Taylor Kaplan (three), Kit Compton (two) and Anna Jump (two) all scored multiple goals for the Lady Wildcats.

Taylor Hagin led West Forsyth with four goals, while Zabetakis notched three.

Despite the loss, Kaplan had no criticisms for his team’s season.

He said the second game of the season, a 7-6 comeback win over Johns Creek in February, tipped him off to the team’s potential.

“When they came back and won that game, I saw something in their eyes and said ‘This is something special.’ ... I said ‘We can do something,’” the coach said.

“My girls are champions. I don’t care what the scoreboard said. [Westminster] won the state title, but I’d rather have my girls.

“If you told me earlier in the year that we’d play 21 games and win 20 of them and the last one would be in the state championship, I’ll take that every day. I’ll take it every season.”