BE boys and girls fire past second round

By the fifth minute of its second-round playoff match against Academic Magnet, Bishop England was playing its own game within the game. No more unassisted goals, no more free position shots. Only well-executed passing and set plays. For Bishops head coach Jeff Weiner, these types of team challenges are the best way to make the most out of the early rounds of the postseason. “It can be tough to keep them motivated when the score gets like that,” Weiner said. “So that’s what we do here. We try to work on some things. We practice different things that will help us later in the second week.” Defending state champion Bishop England routed Academic Magnet, 23-2, in the AAAA girls lacrosse state quarterfinals Thursday on Daniel Island. The top-seeded Bishops advance to face Lower State No. 2 seed St. James in the third round on Tuesday. Ava Ward put the Lady Bishops ahead less than three minutes in off an assist by Sydney Campbell. Academic Magnet answered 30 seconds later though with a goal from Carolyn Prickett. “OK, are you ready to play now?” Weiner asked from the sideline hoping to motivate his team. It worked. Bishop England went on to score 20 straight before Magnet found its second goal. Emma Pizzo scored 30 seconds after Magnet’s equalizer and tacked on another less than 30 seconds later. Grace Ann Carlson then followed with her own goal 23 seconds behind Pizzo’s pair to extend a 4-1 Bishops advantage seemingly with ease. The Bishops led 15-1 at halftime and broke open a 19-goal cushion before Prickett found her second score with less than five minutes to play in the second half. Pizzo finished with six goals and an assist. The Bishops all-state junior attack leads the state in scoring by a sizeable margin and ranks second in assists. “She’s very fast, very quick and very strong,” Weiner said. “She’s left-handed and can go right. She’s hard to stop.” Weiner knows what he has in Pizzo. But it’s the development of rest of his team that may make the Bishops even more dangerous than last season. Ward scored four goals. Carlson, Ellie Long and freshman Kennedy Coupe each added three. Ten Bishops scooped at least one ground ball and six logged a takeaway, including three each by Long and Annie Burton. “That’s the difference. I have interchangeable parts now,” Weiner said. “We only carry 16 players, so I wouldn’t say we’re very deep, but we have at least 12 really good players that I can put out there now.” The state postseason split into two playoff brackets this year, one for Class AAAAA and one for everyone else. The new format makes the early rounds of the AAAA playoffs somewhat lopsided for now, but it’s actually a sign of development of the sport in South Carolina. “We play games against Wando and Myers Park (N.C.) and J.L. Mann in the regular season so when we do get to the second week of the playoffs, we have that experience,” Weiner said. “There’s no need for us to play them during the playoffs though. The sport is growing, we’re getting more teams and splitting them up is fair for everybody else.”

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Bishop England High School Athletics

BE BOYS AND GIRLS FIRE PAST SECOND ROUND

FRANKIE MANSFIELD

Moultrie News | 4/21/2017

PHOTO CREDIT: Frankie Mansfield