For the Spartanburg girls lacrosse team, the 2024 season was all about checking boxes. Break the program's all-time goals record? Done. Win the region title? Secured. Average more than 16 goals a game? Achieved with authority. But there was one goal that mattered more than any other: winning the program's first-ever state championship.
On May 9, at Lexington High School, the Vikings made history. Spartanburg defeated Lexington 8-4 in the Class 5A-D2 state title game, finally capturing the championship that had eluded them for years. When the final horn sounded, the emotion was overwhelming for head coach Aubrie Lauderdale.
"Man oh man… I don't know if it's even set in yet," Lauderdale said. "We've wanted to do this for so long, and now that we have…"
The victory carried extra weight for the team's seniors, a group Lauderdale has coached since they were seventh graders. "This has been a dream our seniors have talked about since they were 13," she said. "I witnessed firsthand the work they've put in to get to this point. Last year, we came up a little short. But our locker room was always confident that this year was ours."
The theme driving the Vikings all season was "redemption." It was Lexington that defeated Spartanburg in the 2023 championship game, a loss that left a lasting sting. Senior attacker Evers Morris recalled the pain of that defeat: "We've been saying since August that losing that last game in May last year was the absolute worst feeling in the world. Today was the opposite. Winning this game is the best feeling in the world. Every girl on that field made it possible."
Senior attacker Addie Usry led the way with three goals, while senior midfielder Virginia Delaney added two and Morris chipped in one. As the final seconds ticked away, the reality of the moment began to sink in—both the joy of victory and the bittersweet end of their high school careers.
"There's definitely some sadness," Usry admitted. "We're all so close, we've been playing together for so long. But still, this is the perfect way to finish."
For a program that had come so close before, the 2024 Spartans didn't just win a championship—they built a legacy. And for the seniors who turned a dream into reality, that feeling is something no scoreboard can measure.