Alison Swartout has been called ‘Big Al’ by her teammates since she began her lacrosse career at Monticello. In Monday night’s game against Fluvanna County, she showed why.
Swartout poured in eight goals and added two assists, leading the Mustangs to a dominant 20-9 win over the Flucos at Monticello.
Swartout wasted no time at the start of the game, scoring her first goal on a free-position shot less than 60 seconds into the contest. Swartout scored five more goals in the first half, powering the Mustangs to a comfortable lead.
“She’s Big Al,” said Monticello head coach Langley Sloan. “She’s been Big Al for us since she was a freshman. She really is a workhorse. If you’re looking for someone to put in that effort, she’s at the top of the list every time.”
Fluvanna hung around in the first half, largely because of an individual performance that nearly matched that of Swartout. Senior Anna Snoddy scored seven goals for Fluvanna, including all four of the Flucos’ first-half goals.
“She’s ferocious,” said Sloan of Snoddy’s performance. “She’s not going to stop her drive to the goal. We just tried to get our defenders to adjust to that.”
Unfortunately for Fluvanna, Snoddy didn’t get much help on the offensive end. Fluvanna had only one other goal scorer, Faith Shields, who finished with two goals.
That was not the case for Monticello, who had nine different goal scorers. Taylar Hackney had four goals and two assists and Haedyn Barnes added one goal and two assists. Monticello led 13-4 at halftime.
“I’m so proud of them,” Sloan said. “Coming in on a Monday, we had a game Friday, no practice time in between. From the first whistle to the last whistle, just connecting on defense and on attack.”
Fluvanna went on a mini-run to start the second half, scoring three of the first four goals to start the second half to cut it to a seven-goal margin. But, the Mustangs would outscore Fluvanna 6-2 for the rest of the game.
Swartout punctuated the victory with an accidental goal on a pass she fed towards the crease that found its way into the back of the net.
“It was a great team win,” Swartout said. “We were working together. We had good passes, we were getting the draws. It’s a great overall team win.”
Monticello and Fluvanna will play again on Tuesday night at Fluvanna at 7 p.m.
