Girls varsity lacrosse defeated the Oakton Cougars in overtime on Tuesday, May 17 in their first round of regionals. Senior Sarah Deible got the “golden goal” that lead the Atoms to win 12-11. This advances them to the second round of regionals against Patriot High School on Thursday, May 19.

      Previously, they had won against the South County Stallions to win the district championship, that placed them as the top seed for regionals. They lead the Stallions throughout the whole game and ended with a score of 13-7. They had lost their regular season game against the Stallions in the beginning of the season, but made tremendous progress throughout their season and showed the Stallions that they were not the same team.

      The Atoms had a rough start in the game, trailing the Cougars during the first half and having a score of 6-9 at halftime.

      “We knew that we could come back from the deficit, so we all just took a moment to discuss what we needed to do to win the game,” senior Cayley Byrne said.

      After halftime, the Atoms’ defense held the Cougars to only two goals, allowing the attack to make use of their possessions. Throughout the course of the half, the Atoms’ attack scored five goals to tie it up. Senior Ashley Britton scored against the Cougars to make the score 11-11.

      “I think by scoring the tying goal, it pushed us to finish the game and fight for the win,” Britton said.

      Time ran out in regulation, which meant sudden death. During sudden death, three minutes are given and the first goal wins, creating the term “golden goal,” that was scored by Deible.

      “There was a lot of pressure to score, but once I saw the open net I knew that I could do it,” Deible said.

      In preparation for their next game, they will have a laid-back practice to rest and rejuvenate. They’ll have a run-through of their game plan to defeat the Patriot Pioneers and practice basic skills to feel confident going into their game.

      The Atoms look forward to playing the Patriot Pioneers on Thursday to hopefully advance to the regional semifinals and get an automatic bid to the first round of states.