Orange Men’s Lacrosse

For the third year in a row, the Orange lacrosse team has advanced to the state quarterfinals of the 3A/2A/1A State Playoffs. On Tuesday night, Orange defeated First Flight 9-4 at Auman Stadium. The Panthers avenged a loss to the Nighthawks in last year’s state semifinal match. Senior Tigh Metheny scored the opening three goals of the game, all assisted by Connor Kruse. In a critical sequence late in the first half, Orange led 3-2. First Flgiht’s Cody Keller raced down the field on a breakaway. Orange goalkeeper Katie Wolter made a huge save to keep the Panthers in the lead. Wolter has a scholarship to play at American University in Washington, D.C. Wolter and the rest of the Panther defense helped keep the Nighthawks off the board for the entire third quarter. In a span of 18:56, the Nighthawks were held scoreless. Orange scored all four goals in the third quarter to take a 9-2 lead into the final stanza. The Panthers will face Carrboro at Auman Stadium in the state quarterfinals on Friday night. If Orange wins, they will host the 3A/2A/1A Eastern Regional Championship game next Tuesday in Auman Stadium. Metheny is the second-leading scorer on the team with 53 goals and 68 points. Wolter has made 119 saves this season with a 51% save percentage.

During summer weightlifting sessions for the Orange lacrosse team, the score “13-7” was written on the white board beside the entrance.

Every time the players left a workout, they would see that score written in back ink that served as a less-than-subtle  reminder to the end of an otherwise successful 2022 season, when Orange hosted the 3A/2A/1A Eastern Regional Championship game for the first time.

It was a moment where Orange truly arrived as a lacrosse program. Thousands of fans gathered at Auman Stadium to see if the Panthers could reach the state championship game. Yet the moment may have overwhelmed the Panthers, who once played in empty stadiums when lacrosse was an afterthought compared to the more traditional baseball and softball programs.

In the regional title game, First Flight’s defense flustered Orange into uncharacteristic mistakes. The Nighthawks held Orange to one goal over 23:26 and advanced to play for the state championship for the first time ever.

By a score of 13-7.

The First Flight team that returned to Auman Stadium on Tuesday night was the same as last year’s in name only. The Nighthawks lost nine seniors, including their top five scorers and goalkeeper Porter Smith. Jacob Gray, who scored five goals against Orange last May, was supposed to return for his senior season yet opted for the Coast Guard Academy instead.

But Orange was still facing First Flight. More importantly, they were facing the Nighthawks in the 3rd round of the 3A/2A/1A State Playoffs.

Which made the results no less gratifying. The irony was that the key to Orange’s victory was defense.

Senior Tigh Metheny scored Orange’s first three goals, all assisted by junior Connor Kruse, while the Panthers (17-3) held the Nighthawks scoreless for 18:56 through the second and third quarters in an 9-4 victory at Auman Stadium. Orange, the #1 seed in the East Region of the 3A/2A/1A State Playoffs, will face Carrboro on Friday night in the state quarterfinals at Auman Stadium.

Carrboro rolled past Cape Fear 17-3 at Jaguars Stadium.

First Flight, the co-champions of the Northeastern Conference with Croatan, ends the season 8-6.

While the Panthers found its rhythm in the second quarter, they were disjointed and sloppy early. Metheny’s sidearm shot off a feed from Kruse with 6:45 remaining was Orange’s only goal of the opening quarter.

The game turned on a sequence late in the second quarter. With Orange leading 3-2 and 4:45 remaining in the first half, First Flight Captain Cam Van Lunen intercepted a clearance pass and found sophomore Cody Keller up the field for a breakaway. It appeared the game would soon be tied, but Keller opted to go low against Orange goalkeeper Katie Wolter, who kicked it away. Defenseman Braden Hunt won the subsequent ground ball and sent it into the attacking end on a feed to Kruse, who found Metheny for a pinpoint shot that hit the back of the net.

After Orange freshman Matthew Macneir won the face-off, Wimsatt passed to Kruse for another goal seven seconds later to push the Panthers lead to 5-2 at halftime.

Kruse factored into all five Orange goals in the first half, assisting on four of them.

“Katie is a Division I goalkeeper for a reason,” said Orange coach Chandler Zirkle. “That was a huge one. The fact that we were able to make defensive stands throughout the game.”

Wolter has committed to American University, where she earned a scholarship.

First Flight was whistled for four penalties in the opening four minutes of the second quarter, including an illegal stick penalty to open the frame. That led to Metheny scoring with 9:01 remaining following an unnecessary roughness penalty with 9;31 remaining for the first of Orange’s two man-up goals. Metheny would add another two minutes later off a unsportsmanlike conduct call with 10:19 left.

Orange outscored the Nighthawks 5-0 in the third quarter. Jake Wimsatt, a senior who just recently returned to action after injuring his MCL early in the season, scored his second goal with 8:50 remaining off a pass from Kruse. Josh Cowan added two more goals in a span of 31 seconds, the first assisted by Josh Crabtree. Senior Joe Cady provided the highlight reel play of the night with a behind-the-back pass to sophomore Gray Crabtree, who finished it to put Orange ahead 9-2.

Freshman Danny Gardill had two goals for the Nighthawks, including one in the fourth quarter. Junior Bert Waddington also notched a goal in the final quarter, a frame where Orange was more content to run the clock out that scoring.

The Panthers have reached the state quarterfinals for three straight years and are one win away from hosting the Eastern Regional Championship game for the second straight season.

“First Flight plays so hard,” Zirkle said. “The nice thing we have is depth. It helps when you can put a freshman out (Brett Clark) at the end of the first half to replace tired players. Realistically, he’s not supposed to be playing heavy minutes right now, but he’s able to go out on the field and give us some good ones. That’s a big difference maker.”

The Orange Middle School Chargers men’s lacrosse team captured its seventh consecutive Orange Person Athletic Conference Northern Division championship on Monday afternoon. At Charger Stadium, the Chargers defeated Stanback 10-4 to clinch the title and advance to the Orange Person Athletic Conference championship game. The Chargers got the opening goal from Kaiden Wallace with 6:14 remaining in the first quarter on an assist from Braden Pfeiffenberger. Dylan Herndon scored a hat trick for the Chargers. Pfeiffenberger scored four goals and finished with six points. Renn Vanhoose had a goal and won several key face-offs for the Chargers. Stanback got two goals from Penn Cochran, who finished with three points on the day. Jeremy Holquist and Joseph Drive also had goals for the Bulldogs. Stanford will journey to Chapel Hill on Tuesday to face Culbreth. The Cougars won the Southern Division championship and defeated the Chargers earlier this year. Stanford will be going for its seventh straight OPAC Championship.

How far has Orange lacrosse come in four years?

In 2019, the Panthers won its first state playoff game under head coach Chandler Zirkle, beating Northside-Jacksonville 17-13. It didn’t hurt that the Monarchs had a defenseman throw the ball into his own empty net in the first quarter. Even Zirkle admitted it took a good draw to beat the Monarchs in Jacksonville, but it was the second playoff win in school history.

Fast forward to 2023 and you see what a program looks like. Playoff wins aren’t a novelty in Hillsborough anymore. They’re excuses to give junior varsity players a chance to play in the second half because the Panthers have a 10-1 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Since that win over the Monarchs, the Panthers have won three conference championships, reeled off 28 consecutive conference wins, captured six more state playoff games and hosted the 3A/2A/1A Eastern Regional Championship game last May.

That latter fact will be a point of discussion during the next 48 hours, because the same First Flight squad that frustrated the Panthers defensively last year will be back on Tuesday night for the third round of the 2023 3A/2A/1A State Playoffs. Some of the players who struck it big for the Nighthawks last year won’t be back for one reason or another, but the Panthers know what to expect now that the expectations around the program, both within and abroad, have changed dramatically.

On Thursday night at Auman Stadium, Orange rolled past Eastern Alamance 16-6 at Auman Stadium in the second round of the 3A/2A/1A State Playoffs. Senior Tigh Metheny, who committed to play at Catawba College two weeks ago, scored a hat trick as the Panthers won its ninth straight home game.

Eastern Alamance defeated J.F. Webb 11-5 in Oxford during the opening round on May 3 to advance to the second round. The Eagles, who end the season 8-11, g0t two goals from Dalton Helton.

Josh Crabtree scored the opening goal off an assist from Connor Kruse to open the game. After Helton tied it off an assist from Brett Hupman, the Panthers reeled off eleven consecutive goals to put the game away. It was the Panthers’ third win over the Eagles this season.

A welcome sight for Orange was the return of senior midfielder Jake Wimsatt, who played in his first game since early March. Wimsatt, a key to Orange’s face-off success for the past three years, missed most of the season with an injured MCL. Wimsatt scored Orange’s ninth goal on a sidearm shot assisted by Metheny. While Wimsatt didn’t take any face-offs against the Eagles, his experience will be valuable as the Panthers try to reach the state championship game for the first time in school history.

Metheny started Orange’s long run with a goal assisted by freshman Matthew Macneir, who scooped the face-off clean and sent it to the veteran Orange attacker. Crabtree followed with his second goal. Senior Joe Cady and sophomore Luke Nevius each finished with two goals. Gray Crabtree, freshman Brandon Williams, Brett Clark, and Josh Cowan each tallied one goal.

Kruse added on to his team-leading scoring total in the third period. Kruse, Orange’s all-time leading scorer, finished with five points. That increases his school-record total to 313 points.

Nick Cardone, a defenseman, got a rare assist on Metheny’s second goal in the first quarter. Junior Katie Wolter made three saves but she didn’t play after the first quarter. Sophomore Carson Latta and junior Parker Christie-Pohl played the rest of the game.

Of the seven other teams remaining in the East Region, Orange has beaten two of them. First Flight is a team that Orange has yet to conquer. The Nighthawks defeated Western Alamance 12-11 on Friday night in Elon.

The Nighthawks and the Panthers will face-off at Auman Stadium on Tuesday night at 6 PM.

This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is junior lacrosse midfielder Connor Kruse. This season, Kruse has continued to cement his status as the greatest lacrosse player in school history. He is the leading scorer for an Orange team that has won the Mid-Carolina Conference championship for the third straight season. Kruse holds the all-time school record with 165 goals and 313 points. This season, Kruse has scored 64 goals. Last year, he amassed 77 goals as the Panthers had its most successful season in school history, reaching the 3A/2A/1A Eastern Regional Championship game for the first time. This season, Kruse has 13 hat tricks. That includes four goals in the regular season finale against Bishop McGuinness at Auman Stadium, where Orange won 10-9 on April 24. His season-high came against Carrboro, where the Panthers won 15-5. Kruse had six goals and five assists. Kruse started the season with five goals against Green Level on February 27. The son of Travis Kruse, who played lacrosse at North Carolina and Johns Hopkins, Connor will continue to lead Orange lacrosse this week in the 3A/2A/1A State Playoffs. On Tuesday night, Orange will face First Flight at Auman Stadium in the third round. Last season, First Flight defeated Orange in the state semifinals.

For the second year in a row, the road to the 3A/2A/1A State Championship Men’s Lacrosse game will run through Hillsborough.

The Orange lacrosse team received a #1 seed for the East Region in the 3A/2A/1A State Championship brackets released by the North Carolina High School Athletic Association on Friday. The Panthers, who won the Mid-Carolina Conference championship after going through league play undefeated, will face Eastern Alamance or J.F. Webb in the second round on Friday night at Auman Stadium.

The Eagles and the Warriors will meet on Tuesday night in Oxford.

There are plenty of familiar teams that stand in the way of Orange’s path to a second straight trip to the Eastern Regional championship game, both conference rivals and otherwise. If Orange reaches the third round, they will  face either Western Alamance or First Flight.

Last May, First Flight frustrated the Panthers and held them to one goal over 23:26 in a 15-7 win to take the Eastern Regional Championship at Auman Stadium. The Nighthawks were led by then-junior Jacob Gray, who scored five goals. This season, Gray is absent from the roster of First Flight, who are 7-5.

Western Alamance played both of its games against Orange in the opening three weeks of the season. The Panthers won 17-12 in Elon, and held off the Warriors 13-9 in Hillsborough.

Orange rolled to another conference championship this season despite the loss of a major cog in its machine. Senior Jake Wimsatt, a three-year varsity performer, injured his MCL early in the season. Wimsatt likely holds the school-record with 361 career face-off wins, but hasn’t played since March 9. Wimsatt was instrumental in the Panthers’ first great postseason run in 2021 when they upset Northwood 10-9 at Auman Stadium to reach the state quarterfinals.

In the absence of Wimsatt, freshman Matthew Macneir has stepped in and learned on the job. Macneir has won 125 face-offs in 183 attempts.

The core of Orange’s scoring hasn’t changed. Junior Connor Kruse, the all-time goals leader in school history, has 63 goals and 68 assists. He needs just five points to pass his own single-season scoring record, which he set last season. In 2022, Kruse’s first full-season at Orange, he scored a school-record 77 goals and 59 assists.

Senior attacker Joe Cady has scored 35 goals. That includes five hat tricks. In Orange’s 11-8 win over Northwood on March 20 in Hillsborough, Cady scored four goals while the Chargers defense was focused on Kruse, who was limited to one goal in the first half. Cady has also had hat tricks against Eastern Alamance, East Chapel Hill, Western Alamance and Seaforth.

With Wimsatt’s scoring punch missing, senior Tigh Metheny has registered a career-high 50 goals. Metheny. who signed to play with Division II Catawba College two weeks ago, had a season-high six goals against Eastern Alamance on April 21. He has eleven hat tricks this season, including scoring five points in a 17-4 win over Walter Williams on April 4.

Orange’s defense has also been strong throughout the year. Junior goalkeeper Katie Wolter, in her second year as a starter, has made 116 saves and has a .506 save percentage in 466 minutes.

Senior Nick Cardone, who also signed to play with Catawba, has created a team-best 32 turnovers. Josiah Tisdale, a senior who has signed with Methodist University, has 23 ground balls. Longstick midfielder Alden Cathey, a junior has 72 ground balls and has created 25 turnovers.

Croatan, the champions of the Northeastern Coastal Conference, earned the #2 seed. The Cougars split the season series with First Flight. Northwood earned the #7 seed and will face crosstown rival Seaforth at Chargers Stadium this Friday night in the first-ever state playoff matchup between the two Pittsboro rivals in any sport.

Jacksonville received the #3 seed while Carrboro is #4.

For the first time, the 3A/2A/1A State Championship Game will be played at Durham County Stadium, the longtime home of the Northern Durham High football team.

The Orange lacrosse team will go into the 3A/2A/1A State Playoffs with lots of momentum following a dramatic win over Bishop McGuinness at Auman Stadium on Monday. Josh Cowan scored the game-winning goal with 22 seconds remaining as Orange rallied from a three-goal deficit at halftime. The Panthers, who claimed the Mid-Carolina Conference championship for the third straight season last week with a victory over Northwood, had another big game in net from goalkeeper Katie Wolter, who has earned a scholarship to play at American University. Orange had a spurt in the fourth quarter that was triggered by its defense. Kale Womble, a member of Orange’s Central Carolina Conference championship wrestling team, created several turnovers in the final minutes as the Villains were held scoreless down the stretch. Connor Kruse scored the opening goal for Orange off a turnover and sprinted down the field to fire an overhand shot past McGuinness goalkeeper Connor Argenta. Orange will prepare for the 3A/2A/1A State Playoffs, where they will be the #1 seed in the East Region. The Panthers, coached by Chandler Zirkle, will learn about the field on Friday when the 40-team bracket is announced.