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Published: Monday, Mar. 04, 2013 / Updated: Monday, Mar. 04, 2013 03:48 PM

Round one lacrosse rivalry goes to Fort Mill girls

FORT MILL -- 

It was one of those match-ups you knew was going to be hard to watch.

The defending state champion Fort Mill Lady Yellow Jackets going up against a start-up Nation Ford squad just three games into its first season defined the word “ugly” in this first meeting between cross-town rivals.

Fort Mill breezed past the Lady Falcons 24-0 to pick up its first win of the season, while Nation Ford fell to 0-3.

The Lady Jackets took 33 shots on goal, while Nation Ford managed just four.

Fort Mill head coach Nicol Morris said she knew how the Lady Falcons felt.

“We have been there,” Morris said. “It takes time to build an organization. They are going to continue to get better.”

Nation Ford head coach Meredith Gruseck knows the road ahead for her team is a long one.

“We have got a lot of work to do,” she said. “They were scared coming into the game because it’s against a team they played on last year. We will know better for next time.”

Due to lack of numbers when the varsity program was launched, Nation Ford and Fort Mill had one girls program for both schools until this year. The boys’ teams were also combined at the beginning.

In last week’s game, Fort Mill set the tone early and scored just 30 seconds into the game as senior Taylor Chambers opened things up.

Chambers would score three more times and end up with four goals for the game. Less than the time it took the Lady Jackets to score the first time, they would score again on a goal by junior Kirsten Terry, who finished with four on the night.

Senior Victoria Richardson and junior Claire Frase led Fort Mill with six goals apiece.

Aiding the Lady Jackets the most besides Richardson and Frase was freshman Maddie Anderson, who scored five goals. Anderson’s first goal would come at 14:42 left in the opening half and make the score 5-0 Fort Mill.

Frase would get into the scoring a couple goals later to make it 7-0 Fort Mill with 7:29 by scoring the first of her three goals.

Right before the half, junior Hanna George scored to make it 11-0 as the Lady Jackets added two more goals to go up 13-0 at halftime.

Sophomore McKenna Cieslak would also score in the game just six minutes into the second half as Fort Mill went up 15-0 at that point.

Morris said she was happy her team was able to bounce back from a season opening loss earlier in the week.

“I am glad to see we were able to move the ball more,” she said.

Earlier in the week, the Lady Jackets started its season off by falling to Myers Park 10-9.

The game went back-and-forth before Myers Park scored in the closing minutes and played keep away spoiling Fort Mill’s season opener. The Lady Jackets were led by both Richardson and Terry, who each had a hat trick in the loss. Frase, Chambers and senior Caroline Lewis also added goals for Fort Mill.

Nation Ford now has some time off before games with Mauldin and Hillcrest at home Saturday. Fort Mill plays Charlotte Country Day and Hillcrest this week.