On an evening when the South Forsyth seniors were honored for their hard work and dedication over the past four years, it was a sophomore who took control of the game in the Lady War Eagles lacrosse team’s 22-2 non-region victory over Tri-Cities on Tuesday.

While it took a little while for the game to begin due to the late arrival of the Lady Bulldogs’ bus, it didn’t take sophomore Jenna Kasmarik long to get South (11-2, 2-1 Region 6 A-AAAAA) a comfortable lead. After Kathleen Rooney opened the scoring just a minute into the game, Kasmarik scored back-to-back goals in the game’s first eight minutes to make the score 3-0.

Kasmarik continued her scoring prowess when she picked up a loose ground ball and bounced it in past the Tri-Cities goalie in the 15th minute. She added a fourth first-half goal on a give-and-go with Morgan Shumate, where Kasmarik started behind the net, passed the ball, and then shot into the 8-meter arc, receiving the return pass before depositing the ball into the back of the net to give South a 7-1 lead.

“Jenna always shows up ready to play,” South head coach Katie Richelt said. “We’ve almost come to expect the goals from her because she’s always ready to go.”

After pushing the lead to 9-1 by halftime, Richelt wanted to make sure her team focused on running the offense ahead of key matches to be played this week — region games at Alpharetta and West Forsyth on Wednesday and Friday that will have a major effect on the running for the two playoff spots.

“We wanted to pull it out and run our offense effectively while moving the ball at a faster pace, and to make sure we were efficient with our passes and making the important catches to keep the ball in the air.”

While working on their efficiency and effectiveness in the second half, the Lady War Eagles also worked on the back of the net as nine different players scored a combined 13 second half goals, led by a pair each from Rooney, Lindsay Burnell, Palmer Smith and senior Nichole Hunter.

For the game, South had 12 different players find the net, led by Kasmarik’s 6-point effort (4 goals, 2 assists) and hat tricks from Rooney and Hannah Yarbrough.

Despite trailing the entire game, Tri-Cities never quit hustling, as was evident by senior Kenya Henderson’s late second half goal. Henderson finished the game with both of the Lady Bulldogs goals.