They had played so many close games over the last five years. It seemed inevitable that Oakton and Robinson’s girls lacrosse teams would put on another classic in the Northern Region championship game on Wednesday.
But all season the fourth-ranked Cougars (15-1) have shown themselves superior to every public school opponent in Northern Virginia. Not even their fiercest rival could change that.
Senior midfielder Hillary Freund scored a game-high three goals as host Oakton cruised to a 15-7 victory over Robinson to earn the program’s first region title since 1998.
“We came in knowing how good of a team Robinson is and what kind of game it would take to win,” Freund said. “It’s almost always a close game between us. But we gave them everything we had.”
Oakton’s last region championship came in coach Jean Counts’ first season as head coach. Both teams advance to the Group AAA state tournament next week along with the winner of Wednesday night’s consolation game between W.T. Woodson and West Springfield. Robinson scored first to take an early lead. But Oakton quickly tied the score at one and within a few minutes had broken the game wide open. The Cougars led by as many as nine goals in the second half.
“This is something we’ve been hoping to win for a long time now,” Freund said. “We came so close the last three years and going after this trophy. To finally win it the way we did in our final chance means a lot to us.”
Title Town
» Oakton is the defending Group AAA state champion.
» The Cougars knocked off Robinson in the Concorde District and state finals last season. The Rams won the region title.
» Three of the four meetings between the two teams last year were decided by one goal.
