Atoms Lose to Stone Bridge, End Season 11-6

The girls lacrosse team ended its season with a heartbreaking 13-11 loss to Stone Bridge High School in the opening round of the Northern Region tournament Tuesday night.

The two teams traded goals throughout, with the lead changing a total of four times. In the end, it came down to two crucial goals scored by Stone Bridge junior Kayla Sleece and sophomore Hannah Mohler. Mohler’s goal came with under two minutes remaining to put the game out of reach for the Atoms.

“At the end of the first half we were on a roll, we were unstoppable,” said Atoms’ head coach Cindy Hook after the game. “In the second half they came out and changed a little bit of what they were doing on their attacking end, and it seemed like the 50/50 balls that were falling our way in the first half started falling their way.”

It marked the end of an era for some very talented seniors, several of whom were selected to the all-region teams and will go on to play at the collegiate level.

“We weren’t really sure what we were going to have for this year,” said Atoms’ head coach Cindy Hook after the game. “We lost a number of seniors last year, but the seniors for this year came out and had excellent leadership and support for the younger players that we had to work in.”

Senior Kate Bermingham, who will play for Old Dominion University in the fall, was named to first team all region. Senior goalie Emma Barker received second team all-region while sophomore Paige Britton and junior Mackenzie Wright received honorable mention for all-region. Senior Katie Vu was also named as an honorable mention.

Barker finished her four year career at Annandale with over 500 saves. She plans on starting a club team at UNC Greensboro. Vu lead the Atoms against Stone Bridge with a total of five goals scored in the game and will move on to play for Christopher Newport University in the fall.

Annandale finished the season with an 11-6 record and will lose a total of seven graduating seniors this year.