47 www.ReadMPM.com | www.MountPleasantMagazine.com | www.MountPleasantPodcast.com our sports • First-team All-State senior Connor Carretta with 41 goals and 24 assists, who signed to play with Wingate University in Division II. • All-Lower State senior Kai Correia, who won 123/222 face-offs, led the team with 64 ground balls and has committed to play NAIA lacrosse at Columbia College. • All-Lower State junior Connor Bennet with 18 goals and 13 assists, who has committed to play at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida. • Second-team All-State senior Carson Mallin, with 46 ground balls and 24 caused turnovers. • Second-team All-State sophomore Harris Beck, with 37 goals and 43 assists. The only question now is: Will a perfect 10 follow in 2026? “We have the right support and coaching staff to prepare our team for (next) season,” Renes said. “We are starting to make the schedule which will consist of top out-of-state teams.” Lucy Beckham Boys Lacrosse It’s going to be tough for the Lucy Beckham boys lacrosse team to surpass the end of the 2025 season. In what has become known as the Rock Hill sweep, the Bengals first watched their sister Lady Bengals hold on to beat Fort Mill in the state lacrosse final, then turned around and did the same thing themselves against another Fort Mill team, Nation Ford, in their 5A state title match. The Bengals plowed through three initial playoff teams, beating St. James 22-0, North Myrtle Beach 24-1 and Chapin 11-1, before downing a tough but overmatched Nation Ford squad 14-5 in the May 3 final at Irmo High School in Columbia. They outscored their four opponents 71-7 to finish the season 17-3 and notch their fourth consecutive state lacrosse title. The title win was especially satisfying for firstyear head coach Jason Jeffries. Having served as the team’s offensive coordinator from 2022-24, Jeffries had the luxury of inheriting a program that didn’t need rebuilding, reshaping or even re-tweaking. He simply kept the team practicing and playing the way it has been doing since 2022, following the adage of ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’ “And according to MaxPreps, we finished No. 9 nationally,” Jeffries said. “And Lucy Beckham has only been open five years.” Team leaders included first-team All-State senior midfielder Bear Hankins with 64 goals and 23 assists, who finished with state Player of the Year honors. All-American junior defender Brooks Leland and sophomore goalie Luke Fredericks anchored the Bengals’ defense. Fredericks posted 177 saves on the season, and Leland covered every team’s top offensive player and had 50 ground balls and 51 takeaways throughout what Jeffries called “a very tough schedule.” Notable wins came against local squads OCA and Wando as well as Lake Norman High School and Green Level High School from North Carolina, Langley High and Potomac School in Virginia and Baylor School in Tennessee. “And we already have another difficult schedule shaping up (next season),” he said. “But we have a really good group coming back.” Bishop England Boys Soccer Setting a new record was hardly on the Bishop England boys soccer radar when the season began, but now the team has the distinction of having 18 state soccer titles, more than any other school in state history. The record came after a somewhat back-and-forth season that saw the Battling Bishops lose five games, including an early game to Upstate soccer power Daniel High, and a season-ending question mark to neighboring Ashley Ridge. “After we lost to Ashley Ridge on May 1, in the last game before playoffs, the team just kept getting stronger,” said first-year head coach Brandon Costa. “And I told them there was a very good chance they would see Daniel again in the state final.” The Bishops hammered their first three playoff opponents, beating Lakewood 9-0, South Aiken 5-0 and Bluffton 4-0. A 1-0 nailbiter over Gray Collegiate in the Lucy Beckham boys lacrosse is victorious under first-year head coach Jason Jeffries.
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