Falls Church HS Girl’s varsity lacrosse captures district, but falls to West Springfield in regionals

The Falls Church Girl’s Lacrosse team is the National District champions for the second time in a row, defeating Justice, 8-7. The team felt ready since they lost to Justice earlier this season. 

“We felt we had a real battle in our semi-final game against Edison which was going to prepare us well for the Justice game, and we think it did,” said Coach David Dresser. “Having a close game against Edison and going into Justice, we felt like we had been through a battle and we were ready for another one.” 

Indeed the team had its fair share of battles when the team lost three games back-to-back and needed to find an answer to make adjustments. According to the coach, the team wanted to be smart with the ball, take advantage of their possessions, and minimize turnovers. 

“I think we did a good job at that in the Justice game in particular. We had a couple more turnovers than we would’ve liked in the Edison game but we were able to clean that up in the championship game,” said Dresser. “Still more than I would’ve liked to see but we did a better job than we had been doing earlier in the season.” 

The team’s main hurdle throughout the season was the young talent that they had, according to the coach. Considering that there were eight seniors who graduated last year, this year’s team played with a chip on their shoulder. 

“The girls had to learn on the fly, there was less experience there,” said the coach. “We had some players who played before high school but a lot of our starters had not played lacrosse before high school. It took some time to learn the game and play well with each other.” 

The team is (10-6) as an overall record and is (9-1) in the National District where their only loss was to Justice, the first seed. Nine all-district players helped contribute to the season. 

Sadie Laughlin made first-team all-region, while Gabby Rannazzisi, Harper Tran, Addison Hoddinott, and Luisa Marquez all made second-team. Other than their achievements recognized by the district, they bring a lot to the table for the team. 

“We bring a lot of energy and that’s awesome to see. Getting it all channeled in the right direction and working together is key with that,” said Dresser. “We’re an excitable team maybe because we’re young. We like to celebrate those moments when we do well.” 

All of that energy comes together as a team where they are a workhorse on both offense and defense. According to the coach, one of the keys came during the district championship game not too far into the first half. The team was down two players due to yellow cards, and five of their players had to contain seven on the Justice team.

Later in that game, like their game against Edison, the Jaguars were down two goals but they found an answer from Giselle Lozada, defender, who scored her first varsity goal. It capped off with Laughlin scoring the late goal to make the Jaguar’s champions.

For this year’s team, winning the district championship is a different type of feel for the coach, considering that in 2022 they had more seniors on the team. 

“We had a lot of senior leadership and experience on last year’s team and they really rolled through the district,” said Dresser. “This team being young and less experienced, it was a challenge. I think it’s super hard to do, to win a second a time in a row.” 

The team has come a long way this season and now they will play in the regionals. According to the coach, big contributions came from new starters, such as Jessica Nguyen-Tran and Aisha Telhan on attack, who have scored 17 and 15 goals respectively this season. 

While on defense, most of their players are in double-digits in forced turnovers and ground ball possessions. Most of these players will be coming back next season and the coach is more than pleased with the stats that they are putting up. 

“To be able to put up those key stats.. That’s what we need from the defense. We need them to get the ball on the ground and pick it up,” said the coach. “I know some of the girls are really happy with winning the district but it will be a nice test on how far they can go into the regions.”

The Jaguars took on West Springfield Spartans in the first round of the regional tournament on May. 22, and lost 15-3.