8A Girls Lacrosse Championship: Pinecrest tops Apex in battle of unbeatens

HICKORY, N.C. — Two undefeated teams, with two of the state’s best defenses, met in the N.C. High School Athletic Association 8A girls lacrosse classification met for the state title at Lenoir-Rhyne University on Friday. Despite falling in an early hole, Pinecrest rallied to take down Apex, 9-7.

After scoring at will all season, the Pinecrest and Apex offenses had one of their lowest scoring games of the season, with Pinecrest’s defense coming away with enough stops to close out the state championship over the Cougars. The Patriots finished off the season with a perfect 22-0 overall record.

It is the first girls lacrosse state championship in Pinecrest’s history and the first 8A girls lacrosse championship win in NCHSAA history.

Pinecrest freshman Virginia Grey Sutton was named the MVP of the contest.

• View Photos: Apex vs. Pinecrest (May 29, 2026). HSOT Insiders can download championship photos for free. Here's how.

Apex (20-1) built up a 4-0 lead with less than four minutes to go in the first period, before the Patriots started their revolution. The Cougars benefited from the early scoring of sophomore Taylor Sharpe, who scored twice in the first quarter en route to four goals in the contest.

Five goals came from the Pinecrest side over the final 14-plus minutes of the first half.

Sutton scored the lone Patriot goal of the first period. Peyton Page took the opening draw of the second period for Pinecrest (21-0), and then barreled down through the Apex defense to net a goal to make it a 4-2 game. The senior captain then added another goal off an Eden Whitfield pass midway through the second period to cut the lead to one.

Whitfield managed to score the tying goal in the first half off a foul opportunity, and then Sutton found the back of the net to give the Patriots their first lead of the contest at 5-4.

Start times revealed for NCHSAA baseball, softball, lacrosse, & girls soccer state championships

Sutton posted two key goals in the third quarter, and Anna Page added another score to give Pinecrest an 8-6 lead heading to the fourth quarter.

Apex hung around with Pinecrest thanks to third-quarter goals from Sharpe and Gracie Sharpe.

Both sides traded goals in the final period, capped off by a goal from Pinecrest’s Kassidy Haracz with eight seconds left.

Sutton scored four goals for Pinecrest, and Peyton Page had two scores.

Box Score

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