SCHSL crowns state champions
Irmo – Lexington High’s girls lacrosse team made history on May 3, winning their first-ever state championship with a 12-7 win over Spartanburg in the 2025 Class AAAAA Division I state title contest at Irmo High School.
The rest of the state championship contests were dominated by Lowcountry schools. Oceanside Collegiate won the boys and girls titles in class AAAA, while Lucy Beckham won titles in both boys and girls in AAAAA Division II. The Wando boys team won the AAAAA Division I championship.
The Wildcats finish an historic season with an 18-1 record, losing only to AAAA state champion Oceanside Collegiate during the regular season. Early in the season, Lexington knocked off Bishop England, handing the Bishops their first loss to an in-state team since 2017.
Izzy Saville scored five goals to lead a balanced offensive effort for the Wildcats, Anna Barger scored three goals, all in the second half.
“It has to take everyone to accomplish something like this,” Saville said.
But the story of the day was Lexington goalie Emersin Clamp, who shut down the Spartanburg offensive attack with 15 saves. Seven of those saves came in the key first quarter when she had seven saves as Lexington opened a 4-1 lead in the opening period.
“I had to do it for my team,” Clamp said. “I knew what I was doing it for, for my team.”
Saville’s third goal gave Lexington a 5-2 halftime lead and her fourth goal, after Barger’s first score, pushed the lead to 7-2 with 7:30 left in the third.
Spartanburg’s biggest rally came over the final 4:07 of the third period. Evers Morris tallied two quick scores and Saffy Evans made it 9-6 heading into the fourth on a goal with seven seconds left.
Lexington snuffed out the comeback with three goals in the first three minutes of the fourth quarter as Jada Van Sickle, Bella Adler and Barger all netted tallies.
Morris and Evans led Spartanburg with three goals each.
“We focused on playing our game, really all season. We didn’t worry so much about who we were playing as long as we kept our tempo up,” second-year Lexington coach Tiffany Tortorello said. “This shows the
improvements in the Midlands and how our team culture is growing.”
Not even Mother Nature could keep the Oceanside Collegiate girls lacrosse team from winning their second state title in three years on Friday night.
The Landsharks, ranked as the No. 1 team in South Carolina, earned their first-ever win over rival Bishop England, the second-ranked team in the state, by a final score of 12-8 in the Class AAAA finals.
The championship game was halted by thunderstorms early in the third period with OCA holding a 10-3 lead, The delay lasted more than two hours.
Two-time All-American Teagan Scott came up big for Oceanside, tallying five early goals and two assists as the Landsharks built a 9-3 halftime advantage. Cadyn Clark’s second goal in the first minute of the third quarter pushed the lead to 10-3 just before lightening and heavy rain halted play.
Bishop England came into the contest having won seven of the last eight state titles and with a 16-2 record. The Bishops came out of the long weather delay as the more aggressive team and Hannah Rosato scored two goals in five minutes to trim the OCA lead to 10-5.
Scott, however, added her sixth goal with 2:42 remaining in the quarter to put the lead at 11-5.
Bishop England’s Natalie Noone scored with under a minute remaining but OCA answered late in the quarter on a goal from Ashlyn Key to take a 12-6 lead into the fourth quarter.
Whitney Jellison’s goal early in the fourth to bring the Bishops to 12-7. Noone added a goal to make it 12-8 with just under eight minutes remaining in the game.
Oceanside Collegiate finishes with an 18-4 record.
“It feels really, really good,” OCA coach Ashley McCulloch said. “I think we know how hard we worked this year and how much time and effort we put into it. These seniors were freshmen when I started coaching here so it has been nice to see them go through the program and end on a really good note.”
Wando’s boys team claimed their ninth state title, beating Dorman, 18-1, in the Class AAAAA Division I finals, while the Lucy Beckham boys team won their fourth straight championship, beating Nation Ford, 14-5, in the AAAAA Division II finals.. Lucy Beckham’s girls captured their first state title, beating Fort Mill, 8-5, in the AAAAA Division II championship.
The dominance of the Wando program continued on Saturday as the Warriors scored early and often while surviving a three-hour weather delay.
Wando (16-2) won its ninth state championship in their 13th finals appearance of the last 15 seasons, all under current coach Lance Renes.
The Warriors were clearly the better team as evidenced by early aggressive play. Wando got two quick first quarter goals from Connor Carretta and Brock Simpson, followed by Harris Beck’s goal for a 3-0 lead five minutes into the contest.
Beck and Simpson each added goals late in the first and the Warriors were up 5-0. The lead stretched to 9-0 after two more goals from Carretta, and tallies from Gavin Long and Pierce Melella.
Dorman got on the board with 7:12 left in the second period, just before a weather delay due to lightening sent the teams to the locker room.
This delay lasted three hours but the break in play did nothing to cool Wando’s momentum. Three minutes after the resumption of play, Wando made it 10-1 on Connor Bennett’s tally. The Warriors led 13-1 after three periods on goals from Carretta, Long and Beck. Carretta finished with three goals while Simpson and Beck each scored twice.
The second half was played with a running clock with Wando leading 16-1 after three periods.
“Today was just another example of adapting and overcoming,” said Renes. “Proud of our guys for sticking out a three-hour rain delay. Proud of them for holding in and getting the job done.”
Lucy Beckham’s girls joined the Lowcountry parade of champions with Oceanside Collegiate, who won the AAAA girls title the night before. The Bengals were making their second finals appearance, losing to OCA in 2023.
“One of our goals in the beginning of the season was to show out and show up and become a part of the championship tradition,” second-year head coach Vanessa Southworth said. “It has been a journey that started when these seniors were freshmen. We got a little better each year but we all felt like this could be our year. It’s very satisfying as a coach to see these girls celebrate with so much emotion.”
A strong defensive effort was key in the victory as Lucy Beckham dominated play and possession in building a 7-2 halftime advantage. Iliana Kane (three goals) and Emily Butler (two goals) set the pace offensively. Mia Weis, Cat Chance and Violet Coates added scores as well.
“We certainly try to be balanced but I think our defense has been our strength,” Southworth said. “It was good today. We got the stops and gave our attack an opportunity to score. We were really locked in today.”
The Lucy Beckham boys were tested by perennial Upper State power Nation Ford, at least for a half. The Bengals held a slim 4-3 lead at the half but were thoroughly dominant in the last two periods with a 10-2 scoring advantage.
Bear Hankins and Connor Simmons each scored three goals while Henry Hankins and Brendan Dick each provided two goals apiece. The Bengals scored 71 goals in their four playoff wins, allowing only seven goals in those wins.
The Bengals won the third quarter by a 4-0 count, getting two goals from Henry Hankins and single tallies from Bear Hankins and Wyatt Coombs.
Fort Mill made a brief run midway through the fourth quarter as Josh Ameo scored two quick goals to cut the lead to 9-5. Ameo finished his final game with three goals. But, Lucy Beckham answered the challenge with five goals over the final six minutes.
The Bengals finished the season with a 17-3 record.
