Sayre girls lacrosse concludes special season with state-runner up finish
In girls lacrosse’s first year as a KHSAA-sanctioned sport, the Sayre Spartans and their tight-knit family culture fought through a difficult slate of opponents to reach the state championship game before falling 18-2 to Kentucky Country Day on Wednesday night.
As Sayre head coach Anna Cook put it, “Out of all the teams in the state, only two get to go all the way to the end. So it’s really exciting to get the opportunity to do it.”
Kentucky Country Day junior midfielder Eleanor Beam was the first to score, just 10 seconds into the game, and ultimately led the Bearcats with four goals on the day. The Bearcats scored 10 goals in the first quarter, two in the second, four in the third and two more in the fourth quarter.
Sayre senior captain Avery Luring put the Spartans on the board at the 3:20 marker in the fourth quarter after a smooth assist from Emeline Offutt, and sophomore Danica Porter scored Sayre’s second and final goal with just under two minutes to play.
When asked what makes Kentucky Country Day — which also defeated the Spartans 18-3 at the end of March during regular-season play — a championship-caliber program, Cook highlighted the deep culture of Louisville lacrosse, and how it serves as a model for the sport in Lexington and at Sayre.
“They’ve had many years on most teams in Lexington,” Cook said. “So part of that, establishing a culture, establishing a legacy, they’ve done that. And they continue with that, and they have girls that have that passion and drive, and a great coaching staff that does it. It’s really a goal to build a program similar to that.”
Even beyond Sayre, lacrosse in Lexington continues to grow. Now that the sport is sanctioned by the KHSAA, Cook thinks the excitement surrounding lacrosse will only increase.
“The big step is to make sure that we’re growing it in the middle school and in the younger ages,” Cook said. “That’s kind of a place where Louisville has the leg up on us. That’s one thing that I hope we can work on for the future, but I think that once you sanction the sport, it allows so much more excitement to start, and I think we have the ability to do that in the next few years.”
Led on and off the field by seniors Luring, Mia Bell, Charlotte Harris, Celie McKay, Katherine Monohan, Amelia Ryan and two-time All-American and High Point commit Anna Mullikin, the Spartans assembled a 17-win season — including a perfect 8-0 record in 7th Region play and a region championship to boot — and further cemented the legacy of Sayre girls lacrosse.
Mullikin, the Spartans’ leading scorer and energy source, was unable to play in Wednesday’s title match due to an injury sustained in Monday’s semifinal victory against Notre Dame. Cook said it was “a bummer” to be missing Mullikin during the championship, but that there was so much to be proud of this season, regardless of the outcome.
“She’s incredibly skilled,” Cook said of Mullikin. “But there’s also the piece of, she is one of those forces out there that helps all her teammates stay calm under pressure, so it’s hard when you lose that in your final game. You don’t really have a practice to take a moment and breathe and figure out the new norm, but we got to the finals, and I’m so incredibly proud of them.”
According to Cook, Mullikin and the rest of Sayre’s dynamic senior class will be hard to say goodbye to, but that they did exactly as those who came before them did — find a way to continue and build upon the goals and culture established by those who came before while setting a strong example for the next group of seniors.
“They were such a big group of seniors,” Cook said. “They did so much, and this group of seniors would say the same thing about the last group. So I know that they’re really important, but I’m also interested to see how the next group steps up to the task... This is a group of seniors that has done a lot of career firsts and set the tone. And I’m excited to see who wants to meet that tone.”
There is no better example of “meeting the tone” than goalie Adrian Smith, an eighth grader tasked with handling the pressure of protecting the goal against the state’s best. Cook noted how Wednesday provided the Spartans a chance to “practice more defense,” and how impressed she was by Smith’s efforts (five saves) through the adversity.
“I’ll be honest,” Cook said, “to see an eighth-grade goalie really step up, I mean, that’s a mental game at that point for a goalie. And she had some really amazing saves. She made some really amazing clears. I think you saw her really step up, and you just looked at the future of Sayre lacrosse right there.”
Trinity outlasts South Oldham
Louisville also reigned victorious in the boys’ state championship match, when Trinity came from behind to defeat South Oldham 12-8.
The Dragons got out to a quick, three-goal lead lead behind scores from Cooper Olson, Owen Rupp and Rylan Rogers. Trinity’s Noah McQuillen scored with just under five minutes to play in the first quarter, but South Oldham answered with another goal from Olson 31 seconds later.
The Shamrocks came out firing in the second period, scoring three consecutive goals — one by Lincoln Gumer and two from Noah Hollister — and halting South Oldham’s offensive momentum to tie the game at four goals apiece.
Trinity took its first lead of the match less than two minutes into the second half with an unassisted goal by Hollister. Miller tied the game again with another goal for South Oldham less than a minute later before Trinity added a trio of goals from Colin Teeley, Logan Bryant and Trent Harley. South Oldham’s Harrison Ramsey scored in the final two minutes of the third quarter to cut the deficit to two goals.
The fourth quarter was a shootout, featuring six total goals in the race to the title. Hollister scored with just over 10 minutes to play before back-to-back scores from Miller pulled the Dragons back within one point of the Shamrocks. But Trinity closed with three consecutive goals — Sam Alexander, Bryant and Hollister.
All-Tournament honors
Girls All-Tournament Team: Layla Hobbs Powell, Henry Clay; Ella Klingenberg, Oldham County; Caillin Heintz, Mercy Academy; Julia Pirtle, Sacred Heart; Morgan Schmidt, Manual; Samantha Haden, Manual; Hannan Dusing, Notre Dame; Andrea Carothers, Notre Dame; Anna Mullikin, Sayre; Avery Luring, Sayre; Adrian Smith, Sayre; Eleanor Beam, Kentucky Country Day, Izzie Maki, Kentucky Country Day.
Girls State Tournament MVP: Christine Martin, Kentucky Country Day.
Boys All-Tournament Team: Brayden Brzygot, Dixie Heights; Elijah Robinson, Manual; Thomas Andriole, St. Xavier; Jimmy Hooks, Frederick Douglass; Crooper Crosby, South Warren; Haydon Bird, South Warren; Greyson Hodge, Woodford County; Charles Twehues, Woodford County; Owen Rupp, South Oldham; Cooper Olson, South Oldham, Samuel Estrada, South Oldham; Noah Hollister, Trinity; Adam Wickel, Trinity.
Boys State Tournament MVP: Logan Bryant, Trinity.
