Lacrosse seniors say goodbye

ROBBY FLETCHER Sports Editor

Powhatan girls lacrosse has become a behemoth program the past few seasons, growing steadily in popularity with high turnout numbers for tryouts, a winning resume featuring two straight state tournament appearances and players earning college interest to continue playing the game outside of high school.

There are arguably too many people to count that deserve credit for that rise in program popularity, but a good place to start may be with this year’s senior class.

Taylor Fitzsimmons, Sam Flippo, Hunter King, Sophia Payne, Kate Adams and Carly Rehme have formed the backbone of the team, which recently finished off its season with a 13-5 record and a spot in the state quarterfinals.

Flippo, Payne and Adams have been with the team for their entire high school careers, forming the core of leaders that a talented group of underclassmen learned under.

After the season ended with a loss to Rockbridge County, it was a bittersweet feeling for the seniors, who had hopes of getting farther than the quarterfinals. It’s not easy having so much on the line in what could your final game, but not long after the loss, five of the seniors were given a chance to represent their school and share the field together one last time with a late invite to the annual senior classic held at Randolph-Macon’s Frank Day Field.

With a running clock and a collection of the top seniors from around the area, it was a shared experience of saying goodbye to this chapter in their lives, and it acted as a more fitting sendoff for a senior class that hoped to have a little more time on the field with their Powhatan gear on.

“I think after last game, this kind of ended things on a happy note,” Flippo said. “You just remember why you play lacrosse when you’re with your best friends and you’re just playing. It’s a reminder that we’re just kids playing the game.”

The feeling was mutual for Adams, who was also a field hockey standout at Powhatan. The chance to play the senior game may have come as a late surprise, but it was the exact kind of thing the seniors

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“It just feels so nice to be able to come back out with your best friends to play again,” Adams said after the senior classic. “Even though you lose such an important game, you get to just come out here and have fun and not worry about the score.”

When we talk about the point the team truly became a regional powerhouse, the girls generally look to the beginning of the 2021-22 season. Finally removed from the many obstacles the pandemic threw their way, the team’s practices grew closer to normal, which meant more time was dedicated to teammates getting to establish

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Dabhade’s journey to the final, and later a state championship after beating Grafton’s Rainer Christiansen on June 10, was a year-long redemption arc after he fell in last year’s state final to Powhatan star Jacob Pfab, who ended his high school tennis career with a long sought after gold medal.

This time, it was Pfab’s doubles running mate Jamison Wallace who stood in the way. After being an overqualified No. 2 on last year’s team, Wallace came out in his second season and looked even better as the team’s undisputed top singles player. Wallace’s quick feet, lethal serve and superior conditioning on prolonged rallies made the reality of a second Powhatan Indian to claim the Class 4 title a very real possibility.

It hasn’t always been easy for the sophomore though, who said it took a few bumps in the road like his two losses to Cosby’s Joseph Braud for him to realize that more work was needed to reach his championship aspirations.

“I was probably projected to win those and I lost both of them, and it opened my eyes to really help me improve,” Wallace said. “It drove me to improve for regionals, and that’s the reason why I’m here today.” y l e t te r of i n te n t to play ba se ba ll a t Ave re t t U nive r si t y

Those improvements were evident when he reached the Class 4, Region B singles tournament, which he entered with a 13-3 record and finished with four more wins, including victories over last year’s regional runner-up Will Hart from Hanover and Courtland transfer and 2023 regional runner-up Keldibek Khozoev.

It was the second year in a row that Wallace was a region champion, with last year’s title coming alongside Pfab in doubles after he won his last singles tournament.

All that led to a battle against Dabhade, which started off in Wallace’s favor after he took a 5-2 lead in the first set. Wallace was certainly familiar with Dabhade due to last season’s connection, but as far as planning for the matchup, much of it had to be learned on the fly.

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