By Donald Heath

Special for the Effingham Herald

GUYTON – Effingham County had Faith in its key girls’ lacrosse game against South Effingham on April 17.

The Rebels know that carries you a long way.

Senior goalie Faith Strickland was nearly perfect while stopping 13 of 14 shots on goal and the Rebels registered a 7-1 victory over the Mustangs at the Corral to earn a No. 2 seed in the Class 5A-6A state tournament.

ECHS (11-4, 4-2 Area 7) was slated to play Midtown (9-7, 3rd in Area 6) in the first round April 23.

South (7-5, 3-3) finished fourth in area play and will travel to Area 6 champion Decatur (11-5) in the first round.

“I’m excited to see where this team goes because it’s my last year,” Strickland said. “We’ve come a long way.”

The Rebels would have missed the playoffs if they lost the showdown with the Mustangs, but a surprising area win against Richmond Hill (its first ever) coupled with the victory over South jumbled the standings in the Rebels favor.

The Mustangs also had a key win in area play – a 10-9 double overtime victory over Greenbrier on March 22 – which proved to be its edge for the fourth and final playoff seeding.

This time, Strickland consistently thwarted Mustang attacks, starting with a save of a point-blank shot in the opening minute of the game.

“She had a great night. (Lacrosse) is a mind game and a perfect save to help the team right off the bat, can determine how your game is going to go,” Rebels coach Alison Lawson said. “I liked seeing that because it showed where she was mentally.”

Strickland, a senior who signed to play lacrosse at Lander University, had a shutout going until Jaden Burns scored with 4:41 left. ECHS has never had a shutout in the program’s five-year history.

“It was just one score. At the end of the day it didn’t matter,” Strickland said. “We were ready to play. We knew they’d be ready so we were just trying to stay on top of our game.”

Grace Pritchard opened the Rebels’ scoring at 7:13 of the first quarter and ECHS methodically pulled away. Megan Coleman had four goals and Mackenzie Brown added two.

The visitors led 3-0 after one quarter, 4-0 by halftime, 6-0 at the end of three and 7-0 in the fourth before Burns’ tally.

SEHS had a chance to get back in the game just before half when two penalties (one when Burns was unintentionally hit in the face with a stick) left the Rebels two girls shorthanded.

ECHS passed the ball around the perimeter to effectively kill off the disadvantage during the opening 1:30 of the third quarter. On the same possession and back to even strength, Coleman attacked and scored to increase the lead to 5-0.

Strickland made six saves in the third quarter. Completing the shutout was the only drama of the final 12 minutes.

“I think they got their jitters out the first time (against South),” Lawson said. “In this game, the girls handled the ball a little better. The last game was a midfield game. This time, we knew what we were doing.”

ECHS defeated St. Vincent’s 18-2 on Thursday night to pick up a program-best 11 wins.

South topped Evans 9-3 on Thursday to clinch its state playoff berth.