Hope women's lacrosse claims first MIAA title

HOLLAND - In what has been a season of firsts, the Hope College women's lacrosse team achieved two more firsts on a rainy Saturday afternoon at Van Andel Soccer Stadium.

The Flying Dutch claimed their first MIAA tournament championship in school history with an 18-13 victory over Saint Mary's (Indiana) College, and in the process, claimed their first-ever berth in the NCAA Division III tournament.

Hope had already won its first conference championship this season, going a perfect 7-0 in regular season games against MIAA opponents. The Flying Dutch improved to 12-5 overall with Saturday's win.

Hope will find out its first-round opponent for the NCAA tournament on Monday when the tournament field is announced.

"I think there is no other feeling like it (qualifying for the NCAA tournament), and it's only because all the hard work is finally coming to fruition, and us being able to have that chance, I think it's huge," head coach Keagan Pontious said after the game. "As a player, there was nothing like it, just to see the smiles on your teammates' faces and your coach. For my girls, I can't wait to see the smiles on their faces, because they deserve it."

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Hope had been to the MIAA Tournament finals three times in the last six years but fell short in the championship game each time, including a tough one-goal loss to the Belles in the 2021 MIAA tournament final.

This time, though, the Flying Dutch staged a Brown-out to jump out to an early lead and never trailed.

Sophomore attacker Kerrigan Brown of DeWitt, Michigan (DeWitt HS) scored twice in a span of 30 seconds, and freshman attacker Julia Brown of Grand Rapids, Michigan (Forest Hills Central) scored just 11 seconds after that, as Hope took an early 4-0 lead.

Saint Mary's, who had won the last two MIAA tournament championships, fought back to cut the lead to one goal at 7-6 and 8-7 early in the second quarter.

Then the Flying Dutch shut out the Belles over the final 11 minutes of the first half. Two goals by Julia Brown and single tallies by junior midfielder Molly Frederickson of Alto, Michigan (Lowell) and junior attacker Elena Salazar of Howell, Michigan (Hartland) extended the Hope lead to 12-7 at the half.

The Flying Dutch then struck for three goals in a span of exactly one minute in the third quarter to take their biggest lead of the game. Again, Julia Brown figured prominently, scoring two of the goals sandwiched around a goal by freshman midfielder Caleigh Randall of Lansing, Michigan (DeWitt), and Hope led 15-8 midway through the period.

But the Belles had one final run left, scoring four consecutive goals and cutting the Hope lead to 15-12 on an unassisted goal by Christiana Singler with 8:56 remaining in the contest.

However, the Flying Dutch got a critical goal from an unexpected source to stem the Saint Mary's run. Sophomore midfielder Bella Lafranca of Caledonia, Michigan (Caledonia) took a feed from Randall and beat Saint Mary's goalkeeper Emma Zmudzinski for her fourth goal of the season, just 43 seconds after the Belles had scored.

It was Lafranca's first goal since she scored against Saint Mary's in their regular-season meeting on April 7.

A little over a minute later, Salazar scored her third goal of the game and the 146th of her career, the most in Hope program history, to extend the Flying Dutch lead to 17-12 with less than seven minutes to play.

Julia Brown then put the exclamation point on the win as this year's MIAA Rookie of the Year scored her sixth goal of the game and 50th of the season with a little more than two minutes remaining. She became the fourth player in Hope women's lacrosse history to score at least 50 goals in a season.

"I think we have amazing leadership, and it's something we knew we needed to keep working through … and they started to lead each other," Pontious said. "All of them are leaders on the field, I think in their own way. We talk about adding value every day and they are doing that. That's why we are the way that we are."

Julia Brown finished with a game-high seven points, adding an assist to go along with her six goals. She also scooped up five ground balls and caused four turnovers to lead the Flying Dutch in those categories.

Salazar had three goals and two assists for Hope, while Kerrigan Brown and Randall each chipped in two goals and two assists.

Erin Dotson led Saint Mary's (12-7) with four goals, while Molly Mullett and Valentina Rubio each scored three.

Hope outshot the Belles 44-26 in the contest.

Junior goalkeeper Maddie Yakes of Rockford, Michigan (Rockford) made 10 saves for the Flying Dutch in the nets.

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Hope women's lacrosse claims first MIAA title