The term “uncharted waters” has been a term used well beyond the point of redundancy dove the past two years, mainly in regards to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tonight, the Orange lacrosse team has a chance to reach uncharted waters in a much more beneficial way. They could become the first lacrosse team in school history to reach the Eastern Regional Championship game of the NCHSAA 3A/2A/1A State Playoffs.
On Tuesday night, the Panthers turned back to the challenge of Walter Williams 17-10 at Auman Stadium in front of the strongest home crowd of the season in the State Playoffs. Orange (16-2) defeated the Bulldogs for the third time this season to advance to the State Quarterfinals.
Junior midfielder Jake Wimsatt scored a season-high five goals and nine points, while sophomore Connor Kruse added four goals and two assists. Kruse now has 75 goals and 131 points this season.
Wimsatt, a tight end for the Orange football team, also won 22 face-offs.
Junior Joe Cady had his second consecutive hat trick in a state playoff game. Cady has scored 42 goals and eight hat tricks in 2022.
Sophomore goalkeeper Katie Wolter finished with six saves before being replaced by senior Austin Dillard in the fourth quarter.
Andrew Harris and Tigh Metheny each scored two goals for Orange. Josh Crabtree tacked on another. Josh Cowan scooped up four ground balls.
The Panthers advanced to the state quarterfinals for the second straight year. Last season, Orange knocked off Northwood in the round of 16, only to lose to East Chapel Hill to end its campaign.
Orange coach Chandler Zirkle, in his fifth season, has taken a program that was largely in the shadow of crosstown rival Cedar Ridge in 2016 and has won back-to-back conference championships and playoff wins in the last three state tournaments. His father Franklin, who won the 2006 North Carolina Lacrosse Association State Championship at East Chapel Hill and over 200 games at East and Leesville Road, joined the Orange staff as an assistant this season.
Chandler Zirkle played lacrosse for his father at East Chapel Hill, a sport that had high expectations and lots of success. Chandler also played football at East, which had low expectations and, in his own words, “terrible teams.”
But the leadership under then-East football coach Darian Harris and his staff wasn’t terrible. Harris, a former wide receiver at Hillside High School in the early 90s, introduced Chandler to a leadership council. During Chandler’s senior year, Harris worked with him on a leadership book.
This past winter, Chandler dug up that book and figured it could come in handy for his 2022 Orange team that had just five seniors and lost its top scorers, Ryan Merrill and Caleb Davis, from last year.
“I really enjoyed working with Darian,” Chandler said. “I found my old book. I thought it would be worthwhile for players who hadn’t played a lot to learn their own leadership styles and how to handle it. Early on this year, we had some bickering. It’s just the growing pains of how to handle things and situations during preseason play.”
On Mondays, Zirkle led leadership development sessions with 10-12 players. They would gather on Mondays to learn end-of-game situations, how Zirkle would communicate with them, how to react when a team is down by three goals with ten minutes remaining, and how to react when they’re leading by five goals going into the fourth quarter.
“We still need to handle that part a little better,” Zirkle said.
The final four teams in the East Region in the 3A/2A/1A State Playoffs are Orange, Carrboro, First Flight and Croatan. First Flight defeated Cedar Ridge 14-10 in Kill Devil Hills on Tuesday night.
Tonight’s game will be Carrboro’s fourth of the state playoffs. After losing to Cedar Ridge in the regular season finale two weeks ago, the Jaguars opened the state playoffs with a first round victory over Terry Sanford 8-5 at Jaguars Stadium. In the second round, Carrboro held off Vance Charter 6-4 in Henderson.
If Orange wins tonight, they will host the Eastern Regional Championship game on Tuesday night at Auman Stadium.