Junior Avery Graham brings the ball up the field against Reservoir.

by Dylan Sondike ‘24

Just one year after a heartbreaking loss to Dulaney to end their season, the Warriors faced Dulaney once again this year in the 3A state quarterfinals. The Warriors went down early after the first quarter 5-2. They came out scoring in the second quarter to significantly narrow the margin at halftime. A strong second half from Dulaney forced the Warriors to play catch up too little too late and ended up losing 13-12 to conclude their season.

“Despite losing, we did not hang our heads once throughout the entire game,” said senior captain Emma Walsh. “We fought our hearts out the entire game, and while the result may not have been what we were fighting for, we played with a great intensity.”

Coach Kelly Hughes explained that Dulaney was an extremely well-rounded team that received the 8th seed because of a tough schedule during the regular season and some close losses to talented teams. As a result, the Warriors didn’t get the usual benefit of being a No. 1 seed of playing a lesser team in the quarters.

Girls lacrosse had an undefeated record before their last game. The Warriors dominated in most of their games with 12 of their 15 wins being decided by 8 or more goals. The Warriors scored 15+ goals in 12 games and held teams to under 5 goals in 10 games, showing how well-rounded they were this season.

The Warrior’s strong regular season earned the team a spot in the County Championship where they defeated Whitman 10-9 to punctuate their continued dominance against Montgomery County teams. They then cruised past Blake winning 20-2 in regional semifinals and Reservoir in regional finals 18-7 to earn the number 1 seed in 3A.

“I’m really proud of the camaraderie across the whole team,” said Hughes. “We have a large underclassmen group, and our upperclassmen embraced them immediately. They were all really close and supportive. We have a really strong group of lacrosse players, and sometimes when you have great players on your team, it can be dividing, but they truly believed in being a team.”

Teams from the Baltimore and Anne Arundel areas have tremendous talent across the board with teams full of future Division 1 players, noted Hughes. For that reason, she said that exposing Sherwood and other MCPS teams to more out-of-county opponents during the season would be beneficial and should occur more.

The Warriors season may have not ended the way they truly hoped, but an undefeated regular season, a county championship, and a regional title should all be acknowledged as they reflect on this past year.