Orange Men’s Lacrosse

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.

Three principal figures that have led the Orange lacrosse team to three consecutive conference championships are moving on to play at the next level. On Friday afternoon during a ceremony inside Orange High Gymnasium, senior longstick defenseman Nick Cardone signed with Catawba College in Salisbury. Senior midfielder Tigh Metheny also signed with Catawba. Senior defenseman Josiah Tisdale signed with Methodist University in Fayetteville. Cardone has been one of the most reliable defenseman for Orange during a 29-game conference winning streak. Last week in Orange’s 16-10 win over Northwood, Cardone was matched up against a variety of Chargers. He helped contain Tyler Laberge to one goal as the Panthers claimed its third consecutive Mid-Carolina Conference title. Metheny has been a strong two-way presence for the Panthers. This season, he scored 23 goals and added 29 assists. Tisdale is another strong defensive figure who is in his third year at the varsity level. Orange celebrated the big day on Friday by beating Eastern Alamance 19-6 to complete an undefeated conference season. The Panthers will face Bishop McGuiness on Monday night at 6PM inside Auman Stadium in Hillsborough. Orange will finish the regular season with a road trip to Southern Pines to face Pinecrest.

PITTSBORO—Smile more.

That simplistic but effective directive was Orange lacrosse coach Chandler Zirkle’s message to his team at halftime with Northwood ahead 6-5 inside Charger Stadium on Wednesday night.

At that point, no one was smiling on the Orange sideline. The Panthers hadn’t scored a goal in 13:10. But why should anyone worry?

The only things on the line were a potential 3rd consecutive Mid-Carolina Conference championship, the #1 seed in the East Region for the 3A/2A/1A State Playoffs, home field advantage throughout the postseason and possibly hosting the Eastern Regional championship game next month.

Zirkle, who turned 30 years old last week, can remember leaner times when he started as Orange’s lacrosse coach five years ago. Playing for a conference title with East Chapel Hill in the league? Organizing the team banquet on the moon would have been an easier task.

Since then, Orange has won two conference titles and 27 consecutive league games. They’ve come so far, Zirkle didn’t want his team collapsing under the weight of their own expectations, even with a championship on the line.

“It’s fun,” Zirkle said. “We’re playing for a championship. We’ve prepared for these moments and it’s really fun to play in them so you’ve got to enjoy them. We don’t have that many opportunities. Just take a deep breath and smile more.”

The message registered almost immediately. Senior Joe Cady scored on a wrap-around goal off an assist from Josh Crabtree to even the game just 32 seconds into the second half. It propelled a 6-2 Orange run and the Panthers cruised to a 16-10 victory over the Chargers to win the Mid-Carolina Conference championship for the third straight season.

Cady finished with four goals. Junior Connor Kruse, the Panthers’ leading scorer, added three goals despite being opposed by All-Conference longstick defenseman Will Johnson. Sophomore Luke Nevius also had a hat trick as Orange (13-3, 11-0 in the Mid-Carolina) claimed its 28th consecutive conference victory.

Northwood (12-2, 8-2) suffered its first home loss of the season on Senior Night. The Chargers were led by junior Carson Fortunes, who scored four goals.

As was the case in last month’s meeting in Hillsborough, Orange’s defense came up huge against Northwood’s All-State caliber midfielder Will Smith and attacker Taylor Laberge. Panther defensemen Nick Cardone, Alden Cathey and the returning Sascha Van Praag alternated on Smith and limited him to two goals, matching his season-low. Laberge, who had a hat trick against Orange last month, was contained to one goal and two assists.

“We can’t play Northwood and expect to blow them out,” Zirkle said. “They have three of the best players in the state of North Carolina playing 3A lacrosse. They have an attacker who is All-State, a midfielder who is All-State and a defender who is All-State. They’re phenomenal. We’re just fortunate enough to be a bit deeper.”

Despite being #1 in the 3A/2A/1A East Region rankings, Orange has been without one of its own All-State candidates virtually the entire season. Senior Jake Wimsatt suffered an injured MCL in March. An All-Conference selection the past two years, Wimsatt has been the Panthers’ top face-off man through two conference titles.

Ordinarily, losing a player of Wimsatt’s ability would send a team reeling. Instead, freshman Matthew MacNeir has dropped in like a plum from heaven. Against Northwood, MacNeir won 22 face-offs, including the opening four of the second half.

After Cady’s marker to tie the game, Josh Cowan took a pass from Tigh Metheny and fired on the run over the shoulder of Northwood goalkeeper James Flanagan to put Orange ahead 7-6 with 9:57 remaining in the third quarter. One minute later, Nevius notched the first of his three second half goals on an overhead attempt.

After Smith scored in transition on a pretty pass from Laberge, Cady scored back-to-back goals to put Orange ahead 10-7. The first came when he pitchforked a shot over Flanagan’s shoulder into the heart of the net despite being held by a Charger, which drew a flag. At this point, Northwood inserted Mason Powell as the face-off circle against MacNeir, but it didn’t make any difference. Josh Cowan set up Cady on the doorstep, who fired in a sidearm shot into the upper-left hand corner of the net.

Nevius and Tigh Metheney added goals to increase the Panther lead to 12-7. Van Reece got a late tally for the Chargers, his second of the game.

MacNeir sent the Orange bench into a frenzy when he won the opening face-off of the fourth quarter, darted to the net and fired it in just six seconds. After that, the championship trophy might as well have been in Hillsborugh.

Kruse added two more goals in the fourth quarter, including one where he eluded a Charger on a shot fake that left the Orange bench howling. Nevius completed the scoring with his third goal off an assist from Kruse.

The two teams traded heavy blows early with six goals in the opening four minutes. Off the opening face-off, Flanagan left his net to make an attempt on the loose ball. Orange freshman Brandon Williams beat Flanagan to it and fired it into an empty net just 18 seconds into the game.

Smith tied the game with an unassisted goal 32 seconds later. The Panthers responded with three unanswered tallies by Metheny, Kruse and Josh Crabtree to take a 4-1 lead.

After Cady’s opening goal with 1:10 remaining in the first quarter, the Panthers wouldn’t score again for the rest of the first half. They were hampered by consecutive penalties in the second quarter, including a two-minute illegal check penalty, followed by a slashing penalty that game the Chargers a 6-on-4 advantage. Laberge tied the game 5-5 on the only man-up goal of the game. Reece followed with the go-ahead goal, his first of the night, with 4:29 remaining to give the Chargers a 6-5 advantage.

Orange goalkeeper Katie Wolter made four saves. MacNeir controlled face-offs so thoroughly in the second half, the Chargers only had five shots on net in the final 24 minutes.

The Panthers will host Eastern Alamance on Friday night in its conference finale. Next week, they will tune up for the playoffs with a home game against Bishop McGuiness on Monday, followed by a road trip to Pinecrest on Thursday.

The Orange lacrosse team has won the Mid-Carolina Conference championship for the third straight year. The Panthers rallied from a 6-5 deficit at halftime and started the second half on a 6-2 run. Eventually, the Panthers would go on to defeat Northwood 16-10 at Chargers Stadium in a meeting of the top two teams in the 3A/2A/1A East Region. Senior Joe Cady propelled the comeback with four goals, including three in the third quarter. Only 52 seconds into the second half, Cady scored on a wrap-around chance assisted by Josh Crabtree. Josh Cowan scored the go-ahead goal with 9:59 remaining. Freshman Matthew MacNeir won 22 face offs for the Panthers. MacNeir has replaced an All-State-caliber midfielder in Jake Wimsatt, who continues to recover from an MCL injury. Instead of playing Wimsatt has been a coach for MacNeir this season as he learns on the job. The Panthers defeated the Chargers for the fifth straight time and have now won 27 consecutive conference games and will be the #1 seed in the East Region for the 3A/2A/1A State Playoffs. The Panthers will face Eastern Alamance on Friday night at Auman Stadium in their final conference game. Next week, Orange will face Bishop McGuiness at Auman Stadium. That is a Monday night game. The Panthers will end the regular season at Pinecrest next Thursday.