Pats roll past Vikings, claim title

Albemarle saved its best lacrosse for its most important game this season, as the Patriots cruised past Loudoun Valley 8-3 in Tuesday’s Northwest Region Championship.
Due to soggy conditions, the game was moved from Albemarle’s home field to Carr’s Hill Field at the University of Virginia, and the Patriots took advantage of the turf.
Junior midfielder Dalton Stokes recorded a hat trick to lead Albemarle (16-3) to its 12th straight victory, and with the win, the Patriots will host a Group AAA quarterfinal match-up with defending state champion Chantilly on Saturday.
Loudoun Valley came into Tuesday’s title game with a record of 17-2, and were tabbed by many as the best team in the region, but the Cedar Run District champions ran into a hungry Patriots team that was eager to post a convincing win after surviving several close games down the stretch.
“After a bunch of close ones, to get a big win in the regional championship, it just feels great, especially going into states,” admitted Stokes following the win.
“We felt very confident, we prepared as much as we could, it was just a matter of executing and we were able to do that,” said coach Pat McAdams. “We played a very good team tonight and they kept us under pressure I thought, but we were very smart offensively. Dalton stuck a couple of shots early on, and we just kept building on that.”
Albemarle seemed a step quicker than the Vikings from the opening face-off, but it was Loudoun that got on the board first on a Chris Daddio goal at the 7:42 mark of the first quarter. The Patriots tied the score at 1-1 on a gorgeous one-touch goal by John Chandler, assisted by Billy Crist, who led the team with four helpers.
Stokes then went on a personal scoring spree, and in the process discovered a weakness in the Vikings goalie Alex Sharrer that he credited McAdams for pointing out in scouting, as the 6-foot captain bounced in all three of his shots.
“We had a good scouting report from coach, he said that [Sharrer] had trouble with change of plane shots,” said Stokes. “So, I simply remembered that and started putting it on the ground and it worked out.”
Bernie Mowbray assisted Stokes on two straight goals, one coming at the end of the opening quarter, and the next just seven seconds into the second, and Albemarle took a 3-1 lead. Stokes again scored on a bounce shot, and Mowbray added one of his two goals to push the advantage to 5-2 at the break.
“We knew that they were going to be ball-watching a lot, so we just tried moving the ball a lot and we capitalized,” said Mowbray. “We worked it around and as a result, got open shots.”
Sophomore goalie Austin Sigler had an incredible game between the pipes, coming up with 20 big saves, including eight in the final quarter.
“We really kept them from gathering momentum and I think Austin played a huge part in that, making save after save,” McAdams said. “On a number of great shots, he got on it and got the ball out quickly.”
Hunter McCann finished with two goals, and Mowbray added two assists to help the cause, and Albemarle again got a great performance from its veteran defensive unit.
McAdams and the Patriots are pleased to host another postseason game, and this time will have several days to prepare, unlike the district and regional playoff games.
“We’ve been getting better every day as most teams do, but this group in particular has really showed signs of improvement,” McAdams said. “We want to continue the things that we’ve been doing as far as hard work in practice and staying focused in competition, and just practice the same way that we expect to play. We’re not where we need to be to win the state championship, but fortunately we have two games before that, and we’ll take them one at a time.”
Mowbray added: “Playing at home really helps, you don’t want to travel two hours away on a long bus ride. It’s great to get the chance to be on our home field in front of all of our fans, that’s what you need to win.”