By Ryan Mink
rmink@digitalsports.com

When Sherwood lost two of perhaps its best players in one swoop when they got in a car accident just before Spring Break, the Warriors were at first shocked.

But Sherwood knew the lacrosse season wasn’t going to be put on pause, so other players would have to step up to fill the void quickly.

Junior Katelyn Sweeney and goalie sophomore goalie KC Emerson have done just that. Sweeney scored a career-high six goals and Emerson made a stunning 20 saves despite playing with a broken thumb to beat last year’s regional champion Wootton, 11-8, Thursday.

“We were scared,” Sweeney said. “Cali’s one of our best centers and Kaitlin’s our main defender. … I definitely stepped it up once Cali left. We had to all pull some strings.”

Sherwood (8-4) has now notched a pair of top-notch wins after falling to some of the county’s best earlier this season. The Warriors defeated Damascus, 9-8 in double overtime, on Tuesday following back-to-back losses to Churchill and Quince Orchard.

“This means so much,” Emerson said. “Going into playoffs it’s really important to get that momentum.”

Sherwood entered the season with so much momentum as the Warriors looked like one of the strongest teams in the county. Much of that seemed lost after the car accident that left Cali Siravo, the team’s top scorer to that point, with a broken femur and Kaitlin Berry, the Warriors best defender, needing stitches in her head.

“They’re still with us and they keep us going,” senior Ariel Nicholas said, saying the girls often come to practice. “They keep us pumped up for the games.”

Nicholas, who was jockeying with Siravo as the team’s top scorer, has also seen her role change. She made the move from A-wing to center, which has hindered her somewhat but helped the team overall.

On Thursday, Nicholas was held without a goal in the first half but moved back to A-wing for the second half. Once there, she scored three of Sherwood’s four second half goals.

“That’s my comfort zone,” Nicholas said. “As soon as I get back to that position something just clicks and I score and get my assists.”

Wootton (6-3) started the game with a 2-1 lead but Sherwood reeled off six straight goals to take a 7-2 advantage and never trailed from then on.

Sweeney scored four of the six goals and was often assisted by Emerson, who would heave the clears to the speedy Sweeney, who could outrun the few defenders left in her way.

Wootton, as it has done several times this season, mounted a furious rally late in the second half. The Patriots got three straight goals from Caroline Stapleton, Raleigh Meddings and Molly Berman, respectively, to make the score 11-8 with three minutes, seven seconds left before Emerson, who has been named to a U.S. Lacrosse National Tournament team, locked down to close out the game.

“I was thinking, ‘They’re not scoring again on me again,’” Emerson said. “We’ve had some girls really step it up. They know who they are.”