The Herald’s 2021 lacrosse All-Area teams. Find out who made the cut

High school lacrosse is still a fledgling enterprise in York, Chester and Lancaster counties — but the area doesn’t have a shortage of talent.

The Herald has published its 2021 All-Area lacrosse teams. Several names are also etched in the 5A and 4A All-State lists, but some rise above the rest: Take our selections for Players of the Year, for instance — Nation Ford’s Ty Keaton and Maddie Barhorst.

As a senior, Keaton was a first-team All-State midfielder and notched 55 goals, 25 assists and 129 ground balls. And those stats helped cement him as the all-time leader in goals, assists and ground balls in Nation Ford history.

Barhorst, too, had a special final run: She notched 64 goals and 27 assists en route to earning Region 3-5A Player of the Year honors.

While Nation Ford swept the Players of the Year awards, Fort Mill took both coach-of-the-year awards: Girls’ coach Kirsten Terry helped lead her Yellow Jackets to a Region 3-5A championship and an Upper State title game appearance. Boys’ coach Michael Desmond helped lead his team to a region championship, too, and defeated rival Nation Ford in a double-overtime slugfest in the first round of the 5A state playoffs.

View the All-Area teams in full below.

BOYS AWARDS

Player of the Year: Ty Keaton, Nation Ford

Coach of the Year: Michael Desmond, Fort Mill

ALL AREA TEAM

▪ Ty Keaton, Nation Ford.

▪ Ryan Walczak, Nation Ford: The second-team All-State midfielder and All-County selection was instrumental to his team’s run to the playoffs. He notched 63 ground balls, 24 goals and 16 assists on the year.

▪ Tyler DeMarco, Nation Ford: DeMarco, similarly, notched 62 ground balls, 19 goals and 14 assists on the season. He was also an All-County selection.

▪ Peyton Farley, Fort Mill: The Yellow Jacket captain and defender picked up a ton of accolades as a senior — first-team All-State; first-team All-Upper State; Region 3-5A defensive player of the year; among other awards. The Wingate commit notched 88 ground balls, 17 goals, five assists and 20 takeaways as a senior, per MaxPreps.

▪ Evan Chapman, Fort Mill: Chapman, an All-State midfielder, notched 32 goals, 12 assists and 44 points as a senior.

▪ Mason Kenworthy, Fort Mill: The Coker College signee was a second-team All-Upper State defender and recorded 29 ground balls and six takeaways on the season.

▪ Mac Riley, Fort Mill: Another college-bound lax player from Fort Mill (Lander), Riley was a second-team All-Upper State selection with 19 goals, 12 assists and 42 ground balls.

▪ Josh Marr, Clover: The senior captain and football star helped his team to a second-round playoff appearance and a 10-5 record overall. The second-team All-Upper State midfielder and All-Region 3-5A selection had 14 goals, 16 assists and 32 ground balls on the year.

▪ Ryan Nicely, Clover: The long stick midfielder picked up second-team All-State honors and finished his sophomore season with two assists, 15 takeaways and 60 ground balls.

▪ Harper Love, Clover: The senior captain and attackman and All-County selection picked up 54 ground balls, 21 goals and 14 assists.

▪ Baker Womack, Clover: The senior was a second-team All-State defender and notched one goal and over 20 ground balls on the season.

▪ Elliot Clark, Catawba Ridge: The All-County selection notched 21 goals, six assists and 29 ground balls.

▪ Adam Christenberry, Catawba Ridge: Christenberry scored 21 goals, eight assists (for 29 points) and 30 ground balls.

▪ (FOGO) Josh Sturgeon, Fort Mill: A “FOGO” is a player whose job is extremely specific: deliver your team possession after the faceoff and get off the field; FOGO stands for “Face Off Get Off.” Sturgeon did more than win faceoffs in 2021 — but his adeptness at this one part of the game led to 47 ground balls and the best faceoff win percentage in the 5A Upper State en route to a second-team All-State selection.

▪ (Goalie) Justin Holland/Ben Larranaga, Legion Collegiate: Holland, a junior, and Larranaga, a senior, played the same position but virtually never subbed out. In Legion’s seven games this year, each goalie spent half the time in goal and the other half commanding the game from the field. Holland saved 60% of the shots he faced and was also the team’s leader in goals scored. Larranaga — a 5A All-State goalie as a sophomore in 2019 — saved 56% of shots fired at him this season and was named second-team All Upper State this year.

▪ (Goalie) Brady Kam, Fort Mill: Only a freshman, Kam was a second-team All-State and All-County selection. He had a save percentage of .560.

▪ (Goalie) Aaron Vannavong, Clover: The senior goalie was a first-team All-State selection and the Upper State Goalie of the Year. He notched 131 saves — with a .631 save percentage — and also picked up 30 ground balls this year.

HONORABLE MENTION

Owen Ameo (Nation Ford); Ben Walzcak (Nation Ford); George Coffey (Nation Ford); Liam Graham (Legion Collegiate); Austin Stroup (Clover); Connor McCauley (Clover); Elijah King (Clover); Avery Gordan (Catawba Ridge); Landon Halpin (Catawba Ridge).

GIRLS AWARDS

Player of the Year: Maddie Barhorst, Nation Ford

Coach of the Year: Kristen Terry, Fort Mill

FIRST TEAM

▪ Maddie Barhorst, Nation Ford.

▪ Catherine Barhorst, Nation Ford: Catherine, Maddie’s freshman sister, notched 39 goals and 17 assists this season en route to an All-Region 3-5A selection. Could a family dynasty be brewing?

▪ Mia MacMillan, Nation Ford: Another Falcon senior and All-Region pick, MacMillan recorded 25 goals and nine assists this year.

▪ Auri French, Fort Mill: French scored 46 goals and added 52 assists in her All-Region 3-5A senior campaign.

▪ Natalie Michelow, Fort Mill: Michelow’s season stat line is impressive: 47 goals, 11 assists, 76 draw controls and 48 ground balls.

▪ Alexa Strelick, Fort Mill: The All-Region midfielder had 40 goals, 12 assists, 56 draw controls and 80 ground balls.

▪ Lydia Laney, Fort Mill: The All-Region midfielder recorded 44 goals, 22 assists, 73 draw controls and 58 ground balls on the season.

▪ Paige Wasiela, Fort Mill: The All-Region defender caused 37 turnovers, collected 48 ground balls and even scored a goal in 2021.

▪ Summer Davis, Clover: The junior All-Region 3-5A selection had 40 goals and 37 assists on the year.

▪ Autumn Huskey, Clover: The senior earned Upper State Defender of the Year honors and notched 76 ground balls, 11 goals and three assists in 2021.

▪ Amelia McCauley, Clover: The second-team All-State selection added nine assists and 61 goals this season. She is Clover’s all-time leading scorer.

▪ (Goalie) Ellie Ruddy, Fort Mill: The junior goalie had a save percentage of .570 and notched 167 saves on the season — an average of 9.3 saves a game.

▪ (Goalie) Brantley House, Catawba Ridge: The sophomore goalie for the Copperheads (4-11) finished the season with 149 saves — second-most in 4A — and with a .514 save percentage.

HONORABLE MENTION

Krysten Wallace (Catawba Ridge); Ashley McManemin (Catawba Ridge); Alyssa Ramadanovic (Catawba Ridge); Emma Marchan (Fort Mill); Indy Coston (Fort Mill); Karia Morley (Clover).

This story was originally published June 15, 2021 at 6:30 AM.

Alex Zietlow

The Herald

Alex Zietlow writes about sports and the ways in which they intersect with life in York, Chester and Lancaster counties for The Herald, where he has been an editor and reporter since August 2019. Zietlow has won nine S.C. Press Association awards in his career, including First Place finishes in Feature Writing, Sports Enterprise Writing and Education Beat Reporting. He also received two Top-10 awards in the 2021 APSE writing contest and was nominated for the 2022 U.S. Basketball Writers Association’s Rising Star award for his coverage of the Winthrop men’s basketball team.