Olentangy Liberty, Upper Arlington roll into OHSAA Division I girls lacrosse state final
ASHLAND — Competing in its first Division I state semifinal didn’t seem to faze the Olentangy Liberty girls lacrosse team.
The Patriots snapped an early 1-1 tie, scoring 14 unanswered goals in a 17-5 win over Hudson on Tuesday at Ashland University. With Liberty leading 13-1 at halftime, the second half was played with a running clock.
The Patriots (21-2) will play Upper Arlington in the state final at 4 p.m. Saturday at Historic Crew Stadium. UA beat Cincinnati Sycamore 13-7 in the other state semifinal.
Liberty lost to UA 14-12 in an OCC-Central Division game April 6.
Senior midfielder Makena Harrington’s goal with 15:45 left in the first half gave Liberty the lead for good against Hudson. Harrington finished with three goals and two assists.
“I’ve been dreaming about this since I was a little kid,” she said. “It means the world to me. My (sophomore) year we would go into the New Albany game and it would be 17-2. (Against) UA, we would get crushed 17-1. The amount of strides that we’ve made throughout the years is absolutely incredible and I couldn’t be more proud of this team.”
Junior midfielder Isabelle Pohmer led a balanced attack for Liberty with four goals and two assists. Senior attacker Lexi Bird had three goals and three assists, and sophomore attackers Corinna Hilmas and Brenna Heffernan each had three goals and two assists.
A transfer from UA, Hilmas was a member of the Golden Bears’ state runner-up team a season ago.
“It’s very important (for us to have a strong start),” Hilmas said. “Sometimes we have slow starts. It’s important that we can step on the gas.”
Alayna Bogner had three saves for Liberty before being replaced by Sydney Pachinak late in the game.
“They’ve worked hard,” Liberty coach Tim Bosco said. “It’s been a long season and we prepared hard. We played an unbelievable schedule, so they came in confident and prepared and you saw what happened. We got on a roll. I didn’t expect this. When we win the draw, we seem to get on rolls. That’s been our mojo this season and when that started happening, good things are going to happen.”
Mackie Stickler had three goals for Hudson (19-4).
Upper Arlington 13, Cincinnati Sycamore 7
SPRINGFIELD — Two goals in the first 2:05 helped set the tone, as did the Bears getting five of the game’s first six shots, and UA (20-3) steadily widened its lead at Wittenberg in returning to its seventh state final in eight seasons.
Four goals each from Lilly Boyle and Kampbell Stone and two each from Paige Brewer and Brennan Campbell paced UA.
Boyle and Campbell scored a minute apart in the early going, and Boyle and Stone both had hat tricks by halftime as the Bears built a 9-2 lead.
“We’ve been working together on finding those open girls, especially on the backside and especially when Kampbell is being face-guarded,” Boyle said. “After graduating eight (starters) from last year, our chemistry this season has gone really well. We’ve learned to work together.”
Sycamore goalie Aoife Black helped keep it relatively close early, making seven of her 13 saves before halftime.
Stone scored three times in a span of 4:34 late in the half — including her 99th goal of the season, setting a program record — and added a fourth in the first two minutes of the second half.
“We needed to take it to them and get shots off,” Campbell said. “It’s something like 40 percent of our goals that are assisted. All of us being threats is huge for our team.”
Four goals for Laney Simons led Sycamore (19-4), which lost to UA in a state semifinal for the fourth time in five seasons.
Bears coach Laura Sandbloom admitted her team’s comeback win at Liberty almost two months ago sparked thoughts of a deep postseason run.
“I remember thinking we had something here,” Sandbloom said. “They have a potent attack and a really good draw team. Those two things stand out to me as what we have to prepare for the most.”
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Liberty, Upper Arlington to play for OHSAA girls lacrosse title
