Pace Academy Knights coach Kelsea Lowe said the goal is for the team to improve each season. With their 18-13 win over Lovett on Wednesday, the Knights won the first area title in program history. The win also propelled the Knights, ranked No. 1 in Class 1A-4A, to a 12-0 record, including 2-0 in the three-team Area 4.
“Each year, we’ve worked to get a little better and that’s what we’ve done,” said Lowe, who took over ahead of the ill-fated 2020 season.
The year before Lowe arrived, the Knights qualified for their first playoff berth. In 2021, they won their first playoff game as a No. 3 seed. Last season, they hosted their first playoff game as a No. 2 seed, again advancing to the second round.
Their win over Lovett, ranked No. 7, was important to the Knights in numerous ways. It followed a 15-7 win over Westminster, making them the unofficial champions of Buckhead and, more importantly, it clinched them a first-round bye.
“This was hands-down the biggest win in our program’s history,” Lowe said. “We have banners in the rafters for all of our sports teams, and there’s years under each sport for the times they won region. We were the only sports team without a year under it until now.”
Lowe calls this year’s team “special” for its selflessness and cohesion. It’s a common occurrence for the Knights to have 6-8 different scorers a game and, against Lovett, the case was no different. Emery Duncan led the way with six goals, followed by Anna Nuckols and Sydney Vincent, each with four.
Their leading scorer changes from game to game based on what the defense gives.
“We just don’t have egos,” Lowe said. “If someone scores a lot of goals in one game, that means someone else did their job very well to allow that.”
Their attack is led by Nuckols, a senior who has a team-high 62 points on 45 goals and 17 assists. Duncan (48, 13) and Wells Howe (27, 34) have 61 each. Vincent, a midfielder, has 40 goals and 20 assists. All three are juniors.
Providing depth are midfielder Sophia Mador (22, 5) and junior attack Jordyn Howard (13, 7).
The defense is led by senior Victoria Hadley and freshman Eva Swales, with senior Katie Janko at goalie.
Nuckols will play at the next level for Denison University in Ohio, and Hadley will play softball for Pitzer College in California.
The Knights are 4-0 against ranked teams this season, Lovett included. In February they beat two 5A-6A schools, No. 10 McIntosh (17-12) and No. 6 GAC (16-11). On March 15, they beat No. 10 Mount Paran 12-10.
For spring break, the Knights traveled to Vero Beach, Fla., and played St. Edwards, escaping a wild, back-and-forth game with a 19-18 win in overtime.
“That was a battle, and a really big wakeup call for our program,” Lowe said. “We have to make sure we’re always over-prepared for any situation.”
Though Knights have already completed their area schedule and are playing at a high level, they’d be fortunate to enter the postseason undefeated. They have four games remaining and their next is April 11 at No. 5 Starr’s Mill (12-2). They close the season April 20 at No. 3 Fellowship Christian (13-1).
Having an undefeated record this late in the season isn’t something that weighs on the team, Lowe said.
“I know a lot of people say that you need a loss to be humbled,” Lowe said. “But we don’t talk about how many games we’ve won. Once we’ve finished a game, we move on to the next game. We don’t think about it or dwell. We start preparing for a new game and try to stack good days, one on top of the other, all season. It just so happens to be that we’re undefeated.”
With success and steady improvement, the Knights are hoping this is the year the program breaks through with a deep playoff run. Lowe, who played lacrosse at Ohio State after a prep career in Maryland, isn’t counting them out.
“Who knows what can happen in sports,” Lowe said. “Anyone can beat anyone. I’ve been a part of teams like that. It happens in March Madness all the time. This team is so special and so close, and we don’t want the season to end. We’re working as hard as we possibly can.”
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