By Angela Watts
Managing Content Editor, DigitalSports.com

**Video highlights below**

On Tuesday, the night before the one-year anniversary of the Virginia Tech tragedy, the Annandale girls' lacrosse team took time before its game against South County to honor one of its own.

Mary Karen Read, a 2006 graduate of Annandale, was one of the 32 victims of last April's shootings on the Blacksburg campus. Reed, a member of the National Honor Society, French Honor Society and the Tri-M Band Honor Society in addition to being enrolled in the school's International Baccalaureate Program, played lacrosse for the Atoms for two years before stopping to focus on her studies.

The team plans to honor Reed again at its home game against T.C. Williams on Thursday, and there will be a moment of silence across the entire Commonwealth at noon today followed by a tolling of bells.

"Mary played JV for us for two years, but because she was in the IB program, time-wise, she wasn't able to commit to us full-time," Atoms' Coach Cindy Hook said. "But she still came out when she could and worked with the JV girls to help them learn. She was a big part of our program and I knew her very well.

"She was so awesome. She was involved in so many things and she truly loved people, loved helping people. She was all about smiling and noticing when someone was having a bad day and going over and making sure she made that day better with a smile and a couple of kinds words. Even if people didn't know her name, they all knew who she was. She was the one who was always smiling.

"And tomorrow is another day just for us to reflect and remember, but we try to honor her everyday with our positive play. And I think it's made all of us hopefully pay attention to each other more to try and keep Mary's spirit alive."

So this season, in her honor, the Atoms, who have named their biggest end-of-season award after Reed, have placed a renewed emphasis on having fun. And the results have been evident.

Annandale improved its stellar record Tuesday night with a 13-7 victory over South County. The Atoms (10-2) have lost twice to O'Connell High School, but are a perfect 5-0 in Patriot District play with only two regular-season games remaining.

"Everyone hustles their butt off in practice, we work hard but we have fun," said Atoms' junior defender Amy Stevens. "We have a new team motto, 'Teamwork done right.' And everyone has realized that the more we focus on that, the more we'll come together and really be successful. And from our first game to now, that's what you see. We're working as a team, having fun ... and looking good."

The Atoms led the Stallions by a slim, 5-4 margin at half time before exploding to score two goals in the first 2 minutes, 37 seconds of the second half. Sophomore attack Maggie Craig and junior midfielder Meredith Rutherford provided those fireworks to break the game open.

In all, eight different Annandale players scored against South County, led by sophomore midfielder Madeleine Irwin with three goals and Craig and junior midfielder Annie Weiser added two goals a piece.

South County (7-2), which kept pace early before being overpowered by the Atoms' stout defense and a high-pressure offense that has knotted 10 goals for more in all but one of its games this season, was led by junior midfielder Caris Moses (two goals) and sophomore midfielder Megan Wears (one).

"This team has really played well together," Hook said. "They've got good athletic talent, but they've got great desire to play well together. They know that the way for them to have the most fun is to share the responsibility on attack, in the midfield and on defense. And so we've worked really hard with everybody playing their role

"They continue to amaze me. Every time they play better together, their timing is better and they come up with new, creative ways to score. It's been fun just watching them."

Email: awatts@digitalsports.com

GOALS
1st -- 23:08 Erica Binzer, SC
1st -- 20:20 Madeleine Irwin, AN
1st -- 18:27 Caris Moses, SC
1st -- 16:23 Annie Weiser, AN
1st -- 14:22 Madeleine Irwin, AN
1st -- 12:14 Meredith Rutherford, AN
1st -- 8:45   Rachel Covas, SC
1st -- 6:42   Madeleine Irwin, AN
1st -- 1:38   Angela Carguilo, SC

2nd - 24:46 Maggie Craig, AN
2nd - 22:23 Meredith Rutherford, AN
2nd - 19:23 Megan Wears, SC
2nd - 15:41 Kate Bermingham, AN
2nd - 12:03 Kelly O'Brien, AN
2nd - 11:42 Patty Rafferty, SC
2nd - 10:17 Katie Vu, AN
2nd - 2:06   Alexandra Torre, AN
2nd - 1:51   Annie Weiser, AN
2nd - 1:40   Caris Moses, SC