• E-Mail
• Print
• Larger
• Smaller

Published: Monday, Feb. 25, 2013 / Updated: Monday, Feb. 25, 2013 01:00 PM

Nation Ford girls are new kids on the lax block

FORT MILL -- 

Their first varsity game might not have gone their way, but the Nation Ford girls’ lacrosse team have a whole season ahead to make their mark.

For the first time ever, the Nation Ford girls’ lacrosse team took the field to play a regular season high school game and they did it against one of the best in the state.

The Lady Falcons fell to No. 1-ranked Christ Church 15-3, but the start of the program was the completion of something in the works for the past couple of seasons.

In years past, girls wanting to play lacrosse at Nation Ford had to play with the Fort Mill High squad, which won the state championship last year. However, interest in the sport took some time to build, but this year they were able to break through that glass ceiling and field a team.

First year coach Meredith Gruseck said she was proud of her team, despite the loss.

“This was a good precursor to see what we needed to work on,” she said. “I am happy with it. They played their hearts out. We will be a different team by the end of the season.”

Gruseck said some of the girls on the squad had never played the sport before, while others only have two years or less experience.

The only Nation Ford player who stood out in the game against Christ Church was Savanna Delong, who scored the hat trick for the Lady Falcons, scoring all three of their goals.

Christ Church jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first half, before Delong was able to score the first goal for the program and make it 4-1.

Christ Church again showed its strength and pushed the score to 10-1 by the half.

The second half was more of the same, as Christ Church came out and added five more goals to go up 15-1.

Then with about four minutes left in the game, Delong struck again adding her second goal, followed by another to complete the hat trick with just 20 seconds left in the game.

The Lady Falcons spent the majority of the time on defense trying to win ground balls and intercept passes. Christ Church took 33 shots on goal, while Nation Ford got off just seven.

Nation Ford’s Jessie Walters got 14 saves in goal for the Lady Falcons.

Up next for the girl’s lacrosse team is home games against Dorman and Cuthbertson and a much anticipated match-up at cross-town rivals Fort Mill at 6:30 p.m. March 1.