Nate Wilberding ’25 had a gleam in his eyes every time a shot opportunity presented itself Friday.
With the team’s leading scorer dialed in, Christ School lacrosse made its third win of the season over Rabun Gap (Ga.) the easiest one yet, 10-5 in the quarterfinals of the NCISAA Division I state playoffs.
Nate (six goals – just one short of his career high) outscored the Eagles by himself.
“It felt great. We came out with a lot of energy knowing this could be our seniors’ last game,” said Nate, a junior from Fletcher, N.C., who now has 38 goals this spring.
“So, we came out playing hard. We wanted to play a complete game of 48 minutes of lacrosse and we did just that. I think the offense is really shaping up good for us.”
The Greenies (11-6) move on to the Final Four and will play at Charlotte Providence Day (17-5) on Tuesday.
There was real reason to believe that Rabun Gap (12-5) might stand in the way of those plans – the Eagles jumped out to a 3-0 lead in both regular-season meetings. But there was none of that early sluggishness on display Friday.
Queens recruit Parker Beiland ’24 made a heady play for the first of his two goals. Parker jumped in front of a pass back to the Rabun Gap goalkeeper and then spun around, shot, and scored at the 4:06 mark of the first quarter. He made it 2-0 off an assist from University of Denver recruit Caden Paradine ’25 with 8:55 to go in the second quarter.
That led into the scoring barrage by Nate. The only other players to score from that point on were sophomore Bowen Scheurer '26 along with faceoff specialist and Loyola University Maryland recruit Carter Sherwood ’25. He is this season’s Carolinas Athletic Association Player of the Year.
Christ School led 4-1 at the half and 8-2 after three quarters thanks to a strong defensive effort and the goaltending of York College of Pennsylvania recruit Lucas Little ’24.