Lowcountry Boys Lacrosse Powers Sweep State Titles as Lucy Beckham, Oceanside Dominate

Charleston County programs extend championship runs while Dorman delivers dramatic overtime winner.

Class 5A Division I champion Dorman | Dorman radio

Convincing wins earned Lucy Beckham a five-peat and a fourth title for Oceanside Collegiate Academy at the South Carolina High School League (SCHSL) lacrosse state championships. The weekend was highlighted by an overtime golden goal by Dorman, which delivered a state championship for the Upperstate.

W.C. Hawkins Stadium served as the stage for another championship weekend for Charleston County programs Lucy Beckham and Oceanside Collegiate Academy.

The two rivals swept boys and girls lacrosse titles in their respective classifications. On Friday, Lucy Beckham followed the Lady Bengals’ Class 5A Division II win over Fort Mill with an 11-1 victory by the boys team.

Oceanside Collegiate Academy pulled a similar sweep the next day in Class 4A. After the Lady Landsharks defeated archrival Bishop England, the boys followed with an 18-7 win over A.C. Flora.

CLASS 5A DIVISION I

DORMAN 9, WANDO 8 (OT)

This set the stage for defending Class 5A Division I champion Wando to complete a Lowcountry title sweep in boys lacrosse. The Warriors faced Dorman, a team it dominated 18-1 in last year’s final.

Motivated by the chatter regarding the lopsided loss, the Cavaliers took a 2-1 lead in the first quarter. The match was played at a back-and-forth pace with the Warriors answering with a score every time Dorman took the lead.

With Wando up 4-3, the Cavaliers converted three straight unassisted goals by Ben Jurik, Carter Kish and Anthony Peaks to take the halftime lead. In Kish’s case, he won the faceoff and streaked downfield before sending the shot directly past Wando goalkeeper Kemper Kimpinski.

The second half opened with the Warriors looking to reassert control over the game pace. They spread the field with a wider alignment and took a more patient approach towards attacking Dorman goalkeeper Jamison Porterfield.

This approach enabled Wando to tie the game again at 6-6 after goals by freshman Harrison Sharp and junior Gavin Long. It then took the lead 7-6 on a touch goal by Harris Beck.

Dorman’s Collin Courier tied the match again with 52 seconds left in the third quarter. With 10:49 left in the match, Beck sent a low shot past Kimpinski to regain the lead for the Warriors.

As time ticked away for the Cavaliers, Courier raced through the Wando defense following the timeout and sent a goal just under Kimpinski to tie the game.

This set up a 4-minute Sudden Death overtime. Both teams had scoring opportunities, but it was Dorman who had the final possession.

As Noah Courier spun off a defender, he found Boiling Springs transfer Jacin Kocak near the net. As Kocak fell to the ground, he managed to spin and let loose a shot which rolled past Kimpinski for the game-winner.

“I saw the ball in the air, I caught it, and my first thought was to just shoot it as quick as possible,” said Kocak, who hit the ‘Golden Goal’ in the triple-overtime win in the Upper State final. “I was definitely nervous. Even though you practice things like that a million times, and go through these scenarios, you never want to be the one to mess up. And I’m glad I wasn’t.

“Overall, this feels amazing. A literal dream come true.”

CLASS 5A DIVISION II

Lucy Beckham 11, Fort Mill 1

Class 5A Division II champion Lucy Beckham | S.C. High School League

Having achieved a 3-peat in Class 4A, the Bengals looked to move a step towards repeating the feat in Class 5A Division II.

In the process of dominating the Yellow Jackets to complete the school sweep, Lucy Beckham extended its streak of state titles to five.

Lucy Beckham did a point better than the girls by scoring the first six points of the game. Displaying overall quickness, teamwork and aggressive defense, the Bengals had five different players score in the first half.

M.J. Zidone led the way with two of his four goals.

Fort Mill’s lone goal occurred with 5:24 left in the second quarter.

“We feel great about it,” said. “The one thing that’s been consistent all five years that we’ve won state championships has always been the boys and all the hard work they put in. It’s all about them. Every season’s a little different. You’ve got some strengths, weaknesses. But for the most part, they’re the ones that did it. I’m so proud of them.”

CLASS 4A

Oceanside Collegiate Academy 18, A.C. Flora 7

Class 4A champion Oceanside Collegiate Academy | Thomas Grant Jr.

Despite returning to the state championship game for the fourth time, Landsharks’ head coach Tom Harris had some concern entering this year’s final.

“Going through the season, we lost eight games,” he said. “That’s the most losses we’ve ever had to come out to a state championship.”

Those concerns increased after the Falcons jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first two minutes.

To Harris’ relief, Oceanside Collegiate Academy quickly reasserted itself and took control of the game. The Landsharks scored seven unanswered goals, starting with the first of five by Titus Gilliam.

“(It was) 2-0,” Harris said. “I was really worried there because we’ve had a tough time kind of responding to teams coming back or maybe from a loss. We talked about that in our semifinals and so, I was really happy how the boys responded to that because it could have easily gone the other way. Absolutely.”

After Miller Seaton tied the match, Ian Long put the Landsharks ahead to put them ahead for good. It also put Long on the road to finish with a game-high six goals.

“I think we had a few big plays that switched up the momentum,” Long said. “We had a few guys step up on the team including me, Titus, shout out Miller Seaton. Just get the tone set for the game, get us pumping and I think once you get momentum going, it’s hard to stop us.”

“Ian was an All-State player and he’s great at finding those open spaces and cuts,” Harris said.

Oceanside Collegiate Academy stretched its lead to 12-3 in the third quarter. After consecutive goals by A.C. Flora, Long answered with three straight goals to allow him to past Gilliam for the team high.

The Landsharks took their biggest lead on their final goal with 4:59 left. It was a behind-the-back shot by Charlie Funk off a Gilliam pass.

“Titus, he can do it all,” Harris said. “He can create for himself or he can dish it off to Ian.”