Caesar Rodney girls' lacrosse team is proving itself this season
CAMDEN — Rylie Faircloth doesn’t mind being considered an underdog.
To the Caesar Rodney High senior girls’ lacrosse player, it just makes it more enjoyable when your team …
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Caesar Rodney girls' lacrosse team is proving itself this season
By Andy Walter
CAMDEN — Rylie Faircloth doesn’t mind being considered an underdog.
To the Caesar Rodney High senior girls’ lacrosse player, it just makes it more enjoyable when your team knock off a supposedly better squad.
“I definitely think it’s fun to surprise people,” said Faircloth. “The best stories are the Cinderella stories where you come through.”
Whatever people think of the Riders’ current status in the state, it’s hard to argue with their resume.
At 9-3 after downing Milford, 18-3, on Wednesday, CR’s only in-state loss has been to unbeaten Cape Henlopen. More than that, the Riders are 34-11 over the past two-plus seasons with a pair of DIAA state tournament appearances.
CR has won three more games than the year before in each of the past two seasons.
“Our team has talent coming up each year,” said senior Lauren Wark. “Just the team culture is amazing. We can be serious and we can also be like 20 sisters at one time.”
“I think we have good chemistry,” said CR coach Georgina Voss. “I think we have a lot of fun out here. Of course we work hard but we also enjoy being out here with each other.
“I think we have good team energy. ... We’re working for that same goal. It’s just a good feeling.”
Probably the Riders’ best victory this season was a 13-8 win over Sussex Academy on April 17. CR lost to the Seahawks by 11 goals just a year ago and by 18 the year before.
It was the first time the Riders beat Sussex Academy since 2019.
CR also rallied from a 4-2 halftime deficit to edge Archmere, 8-7. Even the Riders’ 17-7 loss to Cape Henlopen last week didn’t seem so bad.
“It felt like we played way better than last year even though we only scored one more goal than we did last year,” said junior midfielder Elle Roberts. “I just felt better, I don’t know.
“It’s nice to face (good) competition the whole year. It’s fun.... It’s fine if they (other teams) look at us as underdogs as long as we know we’re not.”
As it tries to boost its state tournament resume, CR plays its last three regular-season games on the road. That meant that Wednesday’s home game was Senior Night.
It’s the first group of seniors that Voss has had for four years as head coach. The Riders have only five seniors on the roster: Faircloth, Wark, Brinn Bushweller, Emma Holcomb and Lyndsey Weller.
Wark admits that playing a varsity game as a freshman was pretty intimidating.
“I just think, stepping on this field, how scared I was,” she said. “It’s just all over in the blink of an eye.”
“It’s bittersweet.” said Faircloth, who tallied her 100th career point on Wednesday. “You always look up to these seniors and they always seem so old. And then you get there and you’re like, ‘That’s me now.’ Everybody’s looking up to you as the senior.
“It’s just a surreal feeling. Coming in freshman year, it was the year after COVID. Trying to get our program back from all of the damage that COVID did, numbers were small, we were doing the best that we could. We just missed the tournament that year, which was heartbreaking.”
Looking ahead as a freshman, though, Faircloth said she always believed that this season could be a good one for CR.
Of course, the Riders would love to make a run at a state title. But considering that Cape Henlopen has won 13 of the last 14 state championships, they understand the challenge.
For the moment, all CR can do is try to keep winning and earn the best state tourney seeding that it can. The Riders want to stretch this season as far as it will go.
“I think, in past years, people have thought of us as just another team,” said Faircloth. “I think this year people’s mindsets are kind of turning — like, ‘Oh, we’re playing CR. It’s going to be a good game.’”
Extra points
- CR’s one appearance in the state finals came in 2004 when it lost to St. Andrews.
- Cape Henlopen is listed among the teams “also considered” in the USA Lacrosse girls’ lacrosse national rankings.
- After starting the season 0-5, Polytech turned around and won five games in a row before falling to St. Andrews, 17-14, on Monday.
- Smyrna is 9-1 but has to face Sussex Academy (8-3), Cape Henlopen (11-0) and Caravel (8-3) is a span of eight days.
- Odessa (10-3) netted 219 goals in its first 13 games for a state-best average of 16.8 goals per game.
