A group of South Carolina’s best girls lacrosse players made a trip to Raleigh, N.C. recently for a national competition where they put their skills to the test against teams from other regions of the country.

The girls impressed, winning many games, including a championship, while also improving their skills and creating bonds with people they would normally compete against.

“It’s just a great experience to be able to represent your state,” Team S.C. 1 and River Bluff high school coach Shannon Aiken said. “You get to meet girls that you wouldn’t normally meet. We had girls from Fort Mill, Greenville, Columbia, all the way out to the Myrtle Beach area, and these girls got to come together to play with one another instead of against each other, and that is an awesome experience.”

Team S.C. consists of two teams. Each has about 22 players who came together and practiced just twice before heading to competition.

It was Aikens’ first year as a member of the team S.C. coaching staff. With the help of her co-coach Jennie Overstreet, they got team one in contending shape with a short turnaround.

“We were able to as a coaching staff collaborate in such a short amount of time and learn from each other,” Aikens said.

In Raleigh, Team S.C. 1 was a force to be reckoned with. The team went 4-0 and won all of them by double-digits. Team S.C. 2, while not as successful on the field, showed improvement from their first game to the last.

“We really focused on building some chemistry on and off the field,” Aikens said. “I think it translated on the field really well.”

Aikens said each player had their time to shine across the four contests. A few Lexington County athletes were on team one, including Lexington’s Lily Sundell, Emersin Clamp, Isabella Adler, Izzy Saville and Hailey Jasuta and Chapin’s Brooke Holmes.

Team S.C. 1 beat a team from New York 16-5 in game one, a team from D.C. 12-2 in game two and a team from Utah 20-4 in game three to earn a spot in the division championship.

The girls played a team from Houston in the championship game and again breezed to a 13-2 win. After the group got together and basked in the success that stemmed from their hard work.

“We got to go collect our national tournament medals together and take those pictures and just debrief about a great weekend and how much fun the girls had,” Aikens said. “After that win, they knew their hard work and their effort was worth it, and they could just be a little silly, have a little fun and celebrate that win.”

With their wins against teams from all over the country, the group showed the talent pool in South Carolina is just as skilled as other states. They beat teams from the north, the west and the southwest en route to their championship.

“In division play, South Carolina was the second most-scoring team in the entire tournament across all divisions,” Aikens said. “That to me really made a statement.”