Dripping Springs High School lacrosse traveled to Chaparral Stadium on Friday, April 14 to take on Westlake High School.
Westlake entered the game 3-0 in district, outscoring Vandegrift, Austin and Lake Travis High Schools by a combined score of 47-12. Dripping Springs limped into the game 0-1 in district, missing some key players due to injury and illness.
Westlake got off to a quick start in the first quarter with four goals before Dripping Springs could get on the board. Midway through the quarter, Owen Rhodes won a faceoff, picked up the ground ball and took it the distance to bring the game to 4-1. Westlake followed with three more goals before junior Kyle Parker scored his first of four goals of the evening to make it 7-2 at the end of the first period.
The second quarter was much of the same. Westlake scored three before Aiden Kane was able to find sophomore Brady Taylor for a goal. After a few more Westlake goals, Parker picked up his second goal, and Taylor was able to absorb a big blow as he assisted Parker on the crease for another goal. At halftime, Westlake held a 16-5 lead.
In the third quarter, Dripping Springs was able to slow down the Westlake attack some. Midway through the quarter, Westlake scored and Drip quickly answered when sophomore AJ Deer found freshman Jake Stockton for the step-down goal. A few minutes later, Kane rolled, faked a shot and found Parker — following him for the quick hitter over the right shoulder of the goalie. That would end the scoring for Dripping Springs for the evening with the Westlake goalie, Joel Kwee, notching 11 second-half saves to keep the distance for the Chaps.
In the end, the undermanned Tigers fell by a score of 7-25. The threepronged Westlake onslaught from Patrick Foley, Gage Frickenschmidt and Ty Ingram-eiser accounted for 14 goals and three assists.
For the Tigers, Rhodes battled at the faceoff spot, edging out Westlake 16--12. Rhodes led with seven ground balls, followed by Charlie Clarno with four, while Lucas Willingham and Jonah Friedman each scooped up three. John Ault picked up 10 saves, and Kaiden Grupp had seven. Kooper Brown received the hammer.
Dripping Springs traveled to Vandegrift on Tuesday, April 18 to take on the Vipers at 6:30 p.m. They will return home on Friday, April 21 to wrap up central district play against Austin High at 7:30 p.m. Friday’s game will be the Annual Face Off Against Cancer game supporting the Primed 2 Fight Foundation.
Drip Lacrosse will also be hosting the JV Playoffs this weekend, April 22–23.