Western Albemarle picks up rare victory over St. Anne’s

At first glance, Nancy Haws’ halftime speech didn’t seem to have much of an effect on her Western Albemarle girls lacrosse charges. But with a little help from the Warriors’ senior goalkeeper, her words had the desired effect.
Colleen Cozart made several big saves and Western scored six straight second-half goals to run away with what was a tie game with St. Anne’s-Belfield Wednesday. Sophomore Abby Wheeler finished with five goals as the Warriors won 15-8 for their first win in the series in several years.
“None of these girls have ever beaten STAB,” Haws said. “At halftime, when it felt like they were creeping back in, we asked the girls, ‘How bad do you want it?’ We also asked them, ‘Has anybody here ever beaten STAB in lacrosse?’ And not one girl raised their hands. So I think there was some motivation there to really step up their game.”
A late Corinna Coffin goal on a free position shot cut the Western lead to 6-4 entering the break, and Brittany Fox scored the first two goals of the second half to tie the game for the Saints (11-5). Five minutes later, Ally Swanson cut from behind the cage and scooped the ball into the goal to send the Warriors on a 6-0 run.
Wheeler and freshman Ellen Shaffrey scored two goals each on the streak, which didn’t end until Kate McCullough fed Rachel Ahn for a tally that made it 12-7. The Warriors then scored three of the last four goals for the final margin.
Cozart made several one-on-one stops and stoned McCullough on a free position late in the second half. She finished the game with eight saves.
“She totally kept us in this game,” Haws said. “She had a rough first half — there was some adjustment for her, but she, emotionally, was the tide-changer for us with some saves at the key moments that really got the ball back into our sticks.”
Western (9-1) scored five goals — including its first three — on free position chances.
“We were taking some shots that were bouncing off the goalie, so we really had to tell ourselves to shoot around her and just have speed off that line,” Wheeler said. “That’s how we scored a lot at the beginning — just being as accurate as we could.”
Mary Schwartz had a hat trick for the Warriors and Shaffrey and Bridgett Lynn had two goals each. Coffin, Fox and Kirsten West led STAB with two goals each.
Western returns to action on Friday at 6 p.m., hosting fellow Jefferson District unbeaten Rockbridge County.
St. Anne’s hosts Charlottesville at 10 a.m. on Saturday.