varsity.roanoke.com

It's difficult to imagine how Salem High School lacrosse fans could have experienced any more enjoyment than the conditions allowed Saturday afternoon.

The boys' and girls' teams hosted first-round Jefferson District tournament games back-to-back at Spartan Field. Weather conditions were nearly perfect and the home teams never trailed.

In fact, neither game was ever close.

In the opener, the Salem boys (13-1) drilled Rockbridge County 13-3.

That was followed by the Salem girls' 19-6 win over Brentsville.

Both teams move on to the semifinals. The Salem boys will visit Charlottesville at 5 p.m. Tuesday.

The girls will face Rockbridge County -- one of two teams to beat the 13-2 Spartans during the year -- at 5 p.m. Tuesday at Western Albemarle High School.

The Salem boys led 13-0 lead by the midway point of the third quarter.

It was the third time Salem defeated the Wildcats this season, the other two victories of similar margins (12-5 and 13-5).

"We flat out dominated today," Salem coach David Turk said. "The kids truly played like they are capable of playing."

Pacing the victory for Salem was sophomore midfielder Daniel Dyer, who scored five goals, giving him 15 in Salem's three wins over the Wildcats.

Dyer credited Salem's faceoff ace Zak Pritchett for setting up his scores.

"[Zak's] really good on faceoffs and he got me a couple of easy goals," Dyer said.

Chris Fisher added three goals for the Spartans.

The Wildcats (6-7) managed three late goals by Ryan Morrison, Brittigan Coffey and Joe Irby.

"Kudos to Salem's athletes," Rockbridge coach Seth Goodhart said. "They've got lots of guys who can score and who can pass, and they are very well coached."

Goodhart noted that 26 of the 31 players on his roster return last year.

Salem's girls were just as dominating.

Spartans midfielder Ryan Rotanz won the opening draw and scored nine seconds later. She repeated the feat 18 seconds after that. Less than four minutes into the game, Salem led 5-0, Rotanz had scored four times, and no Tiger had even touched the ball.

Salem led 8-0 by the time Brentsville recorded its first shot -- more than 16 minutes into the game.

Salem coach Kelly Sneed emphasized that Saturday afternoon's win provided her squad more than just shooting practice.

"It was really nice to get everyone on the team considerable playing time," she said. "I told our team beforehand that every game counts, and that if we were to lose today, we would be done.

"You don't want to take any game for granted."

Rotanz scored six goals. Rachel Turk and Kelsey Cotter added four apiece.

Brentsville coach Julie O'Neill, in her first year at the Northern Virginia school, was stoic in defeat.

"Some of our players picked up a stick for the first time at the beginning of the season," she said. "But you learn from every experience and I'm proud that our team never gave up."

The Tigers' Emily Johnson, who was nursing a leg injury, scored four times for Brentsville (3-10).