The Salem lacrosse teams had convincing wins over two weaker opponents in the past week, but things were expected to get tougher Wednesday as the Spartans took on E.C. Glass.

The girls and boys had a home doubleheader against the Hilltoppers on Wednesday. Results were too late for publication, but Glass is one of the top teams both will play this season. That wasn’t the case as Salem ran roughshod over William Byrd and Blacksburg in games in the past week.

Last Thursday on a very cold night in Vinton the Spartans swept the homestanding Terriers without allowing a goal. The girls opened the doubleheader with a 19-0 win as eight different Spartans scored, led by Lilly Blair with six goals. Madi Caldwell and Hope Wimmer had three each, Kara Yates and Libby Bowman had two each and Kayla Lainez and Amber Wright each had one goal. Bowman had three assists and Ellyn Anama had two. Maddie Bowman had a light night with seven saves in the goal as Salem recorded a shutout for the first time since the Spartans whitewashed William Fleming in 2016.

“Everyone was able to get playing time and it was nice to see each girl on the field,” said coach Maggie Pace. “As a team we forced 10 turnovers and capitalized on those on the offensive end.  There’s still a lot of learning to be done on our offense as far as feeding and moving the ball quickly.  We do a good job of it in practice, but just need to put it into play.”

The boys followed with an 18-0 win as the Spartans outscored Byrd opponents 37-0 on the night. Wyatt Whitlow had four goals and two assists to lead the Spartans and Zach Mason had two goals and five assists.

On Monday the Spartans were back home to host Blacksburg. It’s the first year of varsity lacrosse for the Bruins and the Spartans ran roughshod again as the girls won 19-0 and the boys won 12-1.

Amber Wright had four goals for the girls while Kennon Rowe had two. Blair and Daniel combined for 15 draw controls.

For the boys, Evan McMillan had four goals and an assist and Trent Cheyney had three goals.

“It was good to bounce back from the first game(a loss to W. Albemarle)and get two wins,” said Salem boys’ coach Daniel Dyer. “We’re starting to move the ball better on offense and communicate more on defense. We have a lot to still work on and we must continue to get better each week. I look forward to our upcoming challenges and how we will respond.”

After Wednesday’s games with Glass the Spartans will be off until after spring  break.

“It will be nice to finish off the week with this game(Glass) before we hit spring break,” said Pace. “About a week after we will really hit our stride playing PH and Monticello in mid April. We’re seeing lots of scores posted and are eager to get to those challenges.”