BRENTWOOD — Ravenwood girls lacrosse had waited three long years to return to the top.
The Raptors did so in emphatic fashion on home turf May 15, claiming the Class AA TSSAA girls lacrosse state championship with a 19-4 win over Bearden (14-5).
Ravenwood (16-5) set a TSSAA record for margin of victory in a state championship game, surpassing Harpeth Hall’s record of 14 from last year.
Ravenwood has three TGLA state titles and claimed its first TSSAA championship in the sport’s second season since being officially sanctioned.
“It’s really just a matter of them wanting to work together. Buying into the fact that we want to be a team,” Ravenwood coach Bill Dryer said. “I’ve told them, this is my fourth championship and every team that’s won a championship, it’s always a team, not individuals.
“If you look down our stat line, we probably have six girls that are over 30 goals this season. It’s not one person dominating the game, it’s just a bunch of girls working together and figuring it out, so it’s just fun to see.”
The Raptors were high on confidence entering the state title game, having run through powerhouse programs en route to the championship game, including last season’s inaugural winner Brentwood.Ravenwood also took down Williamson County rival Franklin in both the regular season and state semifinals.
“We won’t turn away from playing anybody … The last three weeks we’ve been saying, it’s really not about the opposition, it’s about us,” Dryer said. “So just go out and do the things that you need to do and all those other things will take care of themselves.”
Ravenwood led 8-0 after one period and 13-2 at the half. Junior Olivia Sacco led the Raptors with five goals and senior Addi Barlow added four goals.
“We all play really well together,” Sacco said. “Since we’re all close, we all look for each other and we all know what we’re capable of doing, so we know where to feed each other.”
Graduating only two seniors, Dryer and the Raptors hope to become a fixture in the state championship.
“You put a target on your back, but it’ll be interesting to see if they’re up for the challenge,” Dryer said.
Harrison Campbell covers high school sports for The Daily Herald and The Tennessean. Email him at hcampbell@usatodayco.com and follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @hccamp.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: TSSAA girls lacrosse, Ravenwood beats Bearden in Class AA championship
