SCHSL 2024 state lacrosse champs crowned

Irmo – The 2024 state championships for SCHSL lacrosse were decided on Apr. 27 at Irmo High School with former state champions returning to glory.

Former state champion Chapin beat Fort Mill, 13-4, in the Class AAAAA girls championship contest. Wando, which won a state title two years ago, won it’s seventh overall as they knocked off defending state champion Nation Ford, 17-7, for the AAAAA boys title.

Bishop England won its seventh title in eight years with a 22-2 victory over Riverside in the AAAA girls final, while Lucy Beckham’s boys won their third straight title with an 8-3 win over Greenville.

Chapin beats Fort Mill, 13-4, for AAAAA girls lacrosse title; first since 2019

Chapin (18-2) won its first title since 2019 and did so in dominating fashion all season. The Eagles knocked off two-time defending state champion Wando in the Lower Sate finals. Chapin also defeated Fort Mill during the regular season.

The best AAAAA player in the state, Ava Grace Collins, tallied three goals to give her 95 goals on the season.

“This feels so amazing, to be able to accomplish this with my best friends,” Collins said. “We have been working so hard for this. It feels surreal. Just so proud of every player because they work so hard too.”

Brooke Holmes also scored three times, all in the first half, while Jules Brown scored four times in the second half.

“After we beat Wando we knew that we could win today,” Brown said. “We came into this game really confident because we had beaten them in season. Confidence came a very long way for us this year. We knew that if we played the way we played on Tuesday (vs. Wando) we were unstoppable. We finally did it.”

Fort Mills’s Cece Shia, a freshman, scored three goals for the Yellow Jackets (13-6).

Fort Mill opened the scoring with an early goal but Chapin had the answer, many answers in fact. The Eagles scored 10 unanswered goals, taking a 7-1 halftime lead.

Fort Mill scored a goal in the third and another in the fourth but could not contain Chapin’s offensive attack as Brown scored three times in the final period to put the contest on ice.

“These girls have worked so hard for this, for four years, and to see it come to fruition is amazing,” Chapin coach Raven Thomas said. “We knew we were state champions as soon as the open season started. We purposely played the toughest schedule we’ve ever seen so that every game would be just as hard as the state finals.

“We’ve been cut short so many times before there was nothing that was going to get in this team’s way today, We went out to win every quarter.”

Bishops dominate Riverside in AAAA girls finale, 22-2

Bishop England was denied an opportunity to win a seventh consecutive state championship by the SCHSL in 2023 and left no doubt in 2024.

The program was found to have used an ineligible player early last season, leading to five forfeits of wins. Bishop England did not lose a game on the field but the forfeits ultimately left the Bishops out of the state playoffs last spring.

The forfeits also ended a 98-game winning streak, a streak that extended to 117 straight contests with the perfect 19-0 season.

“We would have won it last year, I truly believe that,” Bishops coach Jeff Weiner said. “We were really good and we returned nine seniors this year. We certainly felt we were the best team in the state and we played all the good teams. This team simply refused to lose. Their work ethic and focus has been amazing.”

Seniors Bo Rosato and Izzy Woods led the offensive onslaught with six and five goals, respectively. Woods, Rosato and fellow senior Nini Clarke scored early goals to put the pressure on Riverside.

The Warriors tallied their lone goal of the first-half late in the first quarter but Bishop England ran off 10 straight goals for a commanding 13-1 advantage at the half.

Bishop England allowed just two goals per game this season and goalie Lizzie Tompkins and her defensive mates in the back were again dominant.

“Defense was our calling card all season,” Weiner said. “Best defensive team I’ve coached.”

Weiner left his seniors on the field for the duration of the contest, giving them a chance to soak up the victory that they missed last season.

“They earned the right to be on the field when the buzzer sounded,” the coach said. “It was a fitting end for them. They are a remarkable group.”

Rosato, who will attend John Hopkins University in the fall, says Saturday is a day she will never forget.

“This is really special, more special than the previous ones,” she said. “We came in very confident. We never get too cocky. We stay focused and we stay together. We were ready to go today.”

Riverside coach Thomas Riley says his team ran into a better team. Riverside finished 17-3 this season.

“It’s our third appearance in four years,” Riley said. “It’s a honor and a privilege to coach these girls in this game. What coach Weiner has done with that program is incredible.

“We were loose. Just a matter of being able to hold on to the ball, which we didn’t do. It all starts with winning the draw and we had a lot of trouble with that today.”

Wando captures eighth state title with win over defending champions

Wando won its eighth state title in boys lacrosse, avenging a loss to Nation Ford in the finals last season. Offensive balance was again the key to success with several players scoring multiple goals in a 17-7 win.

Connor Carretta led the way with four goals. Luke Moore and Connor Bennett each tallied three goals while Sean Carroll, Harris Beck and Bragg McConnell each scored two goals.

“The good start was the key to game, that was our game plan, to jump on them,” Wando coach Lance Renes said. “Our objective was to get a jump on them and never stop.

“We don’t focus on payback. We just focus on the task at hand. We have a lot of respect for their program but this was all about us.”

Wando wasted no time taking control of the game, scoring three goals in the first four minutes for an early lead. After Nation Ford cracked the scoreboard, the Warriors went on a 5-0 run and led 8-1 after the first quarter.

“We knew we had to jump on them really quickly,” Moore said. “Momentum is everything in state championship. It was good to get up early and we kept the momentum throughout the game. We were not going to lose this game.”

Nation Ford rallied to tighten the game at 11-6 but the Warriors had an answer and put the game away with a solid fourth quarter.

“We were a hard team to defend. The offense is well-rounded,” Renes said. “When you have that much have strength, it’s very tough. That speaks to our culture and how we like to play team lacrosse.”

Nation Ford coach Cory Turner lost eight seniors from last year’s championship team but the Falcons got hot late in the season to earn another trip to the finals.

“Wando is too good. If you get burned they are going to expose you. They did that today,” Turner said. “They have a great program. I would expect next year we will be right back in the thick of things. I really like what we will have coming back. This was our rebuilding year. We knew that. We put it together late and were able to get here. Eventually, next year, it will pay off.”

Lucy Beckham sends coach to new job with third straight title

Lucy Beckham coach Parker Ferrigan has coached his last game at the program he started in 2021. Ferrigan went out in style with a third consecutive state title and the Bengals did not lose to an in-state school over the last three seasons.

“Our team was so dedicated and so focused on winning this for coach,” senior Ryan McCarthy said. “He did so much for all of us and he started the program from scratch. We all owe him a lot and we’re glad we could do this for him.”

Ferrigan is headed to a new coaching position in Tennessee but watched his 2024 team close out a season that almost wasn’t. Due to an offseason rules violation, Lucy Beckham was initially banned from postseason play by the SCHSL. The school won an appeal before the state’s appellate panel in February and had their postseason opportunity reinstated, though they did suffer other sanctions.

“I think we are grateful that we had an opportunity to finish with everything that was going on,” Ferrigan said, “I think it made us appreciate everything a lot. Everything we went through brought us together and made us stronger. Really proud of these guys.”

The championship contest was competitive throughout but Lucy Beckham never trailed. Sophomore Nolan Elwood scored two first half goals and Colton Bennett added a score to put the Bengals up 3-0 midway through the second period.

After Greenville scored to cut the lead to 3-1, the Bengals scored twice in the final two minutes on goals by McCarthy and Web Perry. Perry’s crucial goal came with less than a second remaining in the first half.

Each team scored once in the third period with Griff Berry giving the Bengals a 6-2 lead moving into the fourth quarter. The Raiders got a goal from Capers Gross to make it 6-3 but Beckham’s Austin Constable answered to make it 7-3 with 8:03 remaining in the contest.

Two minutes later Wyatt Coombs made it 8-3.

“I don’t think many people in the state expected us to come out and fight like hell,” Greenville coach Andrew Tillman said. “Our kids played hard. We believed in ourselves and believed in the type of team we were. Offensively, we missed some shots that we normally don’t but you have to credit Lucy Beckham’s defense. They’re a quality team.”