The Salem High School boys lacrosse team has advanced to the state semifinals for the first time.
The host Spartans scored the game鈥檚 first two goals and led the rest of the way in a 9-4 win over Broad Run in a Class 4 state quarterfinal Friday night.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really special,鈥 Salem senior Jackson Wininger, who scored two goals Friday, said of reaching the final four. 鈥淭his year we definitely want it more.
鈥淲e鈥檙e really gritty.鈥
Wininger credits the team鈥檚 chemistry for Salem鈥檚 success.
鈥淲e鈥檝e been playing together since third, fourth grade,鈥 said Wininger, a Mary Washington recruit. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like a family. We go out, hang out together all the time. We just have a really tight bond that I feel like no other team really has.鈥
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Salem (15-3) carried an unbeaten record into last year鈥檚 state quarterfinals but lost at home to Hanover.
鈥淚t was a bummer last year,鈥 said sophomore Wade Marble, who scored Salem鈥檚 first two goals Friday.
So Salem was particularly motivated in Friday鈥檚 quarterfinal.
鈥淲e talked about, 鈥榃e鈥檝e been working all offseason, all fall, all winter, all spring for this moment right here in the state quarterfinal game to kind of redeem ourselves,鈥欌 Salem coach George Revercomb said.
鈥淲e were just determined (that) we鈥檙e not going to let that happen again,鈥 Wininger said. 鈥淲e were definitely a little nervous coming out today, considering what happened last year.鈥
Salem will host three-time defending state champ Atlee in a Class 4 semifinal at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
鈥淚鈥檝e personally wanted to play them my entire high school career,鈥 junior goalie Richard Hof said. 鈥淚 think we can take them.鈥
Atlee beat Salem in the 2022 state quarterfinals.
鈥淲e鈥檙e definitely looking to get our revenge,鈥 Wininger said. 鈥淚f we 鈥 play how we鈥檝e been playing the past couple weeks, we can take care of them.鈥
Salem played a challenging schedule in the regular season to prepare itself for the postseason. The team took on private-school powers St. Anne鈥檚 Belfield, Woodberry Forest and North Cross, as well as Class 4 rivals Western Albemarle and E.C. Glass.
鈥淲e wanted to push ourselves further and really schedule some tough teams,鈥 Revercomb said. 鈥淲e want to see what the best is so we can kind of measure ourselves up against them and 鈥 improve. 鈥 You鈥檙e seeing dividends pay off in games like tonight.鈥
Salem led 2-1 after the first quarter Friday and had a 7-1 cushion at halftime.
鈥淭hey鈥檝e just got shooters everywhere,鈥 Broad Run coach Ashtin Sack said. 鈥淭hey鈥檝e got a great team.鈥
Marble scored two goals in the game鈥檚 first three minutes to give Salem a 2-0 lead with 9:15 left in the first quarter. Salem led the rest of the way.
鈥淚 just wanted to get our offense started and really make us (get) on a roll, and I think we did after those two goals I scored,鈥 Marble said.
Conrad Varblow scored for Broad Run (13-7) to cut the lead to 2-1 with 7:41 to go in the first quarter.
鈥淲e all just kind of came together at the end of the first quarter. We made some adjustments, realized that we鈥檝e got to hold the ball a little bit longer, run their guys into the ground because it鈥檚 hot out here,鈥 Wininger said.
Salem outscored the visitors 5-0 in the second quarter.
鈥淲e couldn鈥檛 get the groundball and get it over to our side,鈥 Sack said. 鈥淲e had pretty limited possessions in the second quarter.鈥
Wininger scored back-to-back goals to extend the lead to 4-1 with 9:47 left in the second quarter.
Parker Dallas scored to extend the lead to 5-1 with 9:31 left in the second quarter.
Emory & Henry recruit Jackson Jones scored with 50 seconds left in the second quarter, thanks to Broad Run goalie Logan Quick accidentally kicking the ball into the net.
Ryan Warren scored six seconds later to give Salem a 7-1 cushion. Quick slammed his stick to the ground.
Quick had 10 saves for the visitors.
Hof had 10 saves for Salem.
鈥淲e played lights out (on defense),鈥 Hof said. 鈥淲e were doing everything well. 鈥 I think we played our best game today.鈥
Hof has verbally committed to NCAA Division II member Barton.
鈥淭heir goalie, when he gets the save, he鈥檚 able to get it out quick and they鈥檙e able to push it and pressure,鈥 Sack said.
Holden Custer and Dallas scored in the final quarter for Salem.
