Niceville Girls Varsity Lacrosse visited South Walton High School Tuesday night for an out-of-district matchup with the perennial power and last year’s district playoff runner-up, South Walton High School.The Eagles would drop the game by the closest of margins, but proved they can hang with the best in panhandle high school girls lacrosse.

The boisterous crows on hand provided a playoff-caliber atmosphere for the match between the Eagles and Seahawks.

Niceville fell behind South Walton 8-3 at the half. Adjustments by Niceville high’s coaches, Coach Conner and Coach Jaworski, during halftime saw Niceville firing on all cylinders in the 2nd half and nearly come back to win the game.

Their campaign from a five-goal deficit to a narrow loss started on the halftime break which was zipped in for a goal.

Niceville continued the half with stingy defense, quality clears that created offense, and solid goaltending.

Niceville continued to chip away at South Walton’s lead, outscoring them 7-3 in the 2nd half and pulling within 11-10 with 1:13 left to play.

The Eagles forced a late South Walton turnover, which gave them 13 seconds left to equalize. The last-second offensive push wouldn’t be enough, though. South Walton’s goalie, covered a loose ball, and ran out the clock for the win.

Lady Eagle scoring: Alex Marchand, 4; Hannah Paulson, 3; Delaney Cook, 1; Paetyn Hoffman, 1; Sofia Lydic, 1.

Goaltending Hannah Kelly: 23 shots on goal, 12 saves (52%).

The team returns to action Thursday (Feb 24) night visiting Tate @ 6PM.

Special thanks to Patrick Kelly for contributing to this article!