2021 Girls Lacrosse Championship Recap

Issue 73 - Park City, American Fork, Bingham Win Titles

The opening day of the lacrosse championship weekend featured three great games with all six teams leaving it all out on the field. Photo galleries from each game can be found here.

As always, this newsletter is brought to you by Vessel Kitchen. Please stop by one of its four locations and grab some grub this holiday weekend!

Park City Defeats Waterford in the UHSAA Division A Championship

Park City entered its ninth consecutive championship seeking to finally get the bad taste out of their mouths from losing in the 2019 UTGL Division A Championship game and they did just that, defeating Waterford, 17-11.

“Words can’t describe how good it feels,” said Park City Head Coach Mikki Clayton. “Our girls have wanted it for a long time. They were ready for this game, they were ready for the championship all season long.”

The Miners jumped out to an early three-goal lead with Kendall Keblish kicking off the scoring followed by two goals from Samantha Riely. Waterford stopped the run with a goal by Elise Stockham. Lilly Hunt notched another goal for the Miners before Waterford went on a three-goal run with all three coming from Jaimeson Meyer, tying the game at 4 with 10:55 left in the first half.

Keblish answered the call for the Miners with three straight goals of her own before Meyer found the back of the net for Waterford at the 8:04 mark, making the score 7-5 for Park City. A five-goal run by the Miners showed why they have been the No. 1 team for the entire season. Amelia Livingston started the run with her first goal of the game. Hunt, Keblish, Riely and Keblish finished out the scoring at the 1:21 mark with a 7 goal lead. Meyer added a goal with 30 seconds left in the half, giving the Ravens a little momentum heading into the break, despite trailing 12-6.

Meyer started the half with a quick goal to bring the Ravens within 5 goals. Sophie Neff scored her first goal of the game for the Miners at the 21:43 mark then Hunt scored 32 seconds later to give Park City a 14-7 lead early in the second half. Charlie Iacobelli notched her first goal of the game at the 17:25 mark followed by a goal by Meyer to bring the score to 14-9. Both teams traded goals then Keblish and Livingston scored for the Miners to take a 17-10 lead late in the game. Meyer added a final goal at 4:53 to bring the final score to 17-11 for Park City.

“It’s about keeping even-keeled,” said Clayton. “We kept telling them not to worry about the score and always play our game and we did that tonight and kept moving forward.”

For the Miners, Keblish finished with 7 goals, 1 assist and 15 draw wins. Riely had 5 goals, 1 assist and 7 draw controls. Hunt had a hat-trick. For Waterford, Meyer finished with 9 goals.

As the offense stole the show, the Miner defense continued to battle and limit the Raven’s chances on offense. The Park City defense of Maggie Keizer, Kathleen Whitely, Kathrin Nixon and Columba Gonzalez were up to the task. Anchoring the squad was Sadie AbuHaidar who finished with three saves.

The Park City Seniors finish their playing career with a 47-2 record while claiming two championships. The total number of championships Park City has won is now five: 2021, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015.

American Fork Pulls Off Comeback, Beats Lone Peak in the UHSAA Division B Championship

The American Fork Cavemen trailed 7-1 early in the first half of the 2021 UHSAA Girls Division B Championship before mounting a second-half comeback to win 12-10 over Lone Peak.

The Knights scored the first three goals of the game when Maddie Potvin, Lauren Siri and Julia Gilmore found the back of the net. American Fork Senior Kat Ledkins scored her first goal of the game at the 18:46 mark to stop the Lone Peak run. However, the Knights reeled off four more goals, making the score 7-1 with 6:15 left in the first half. Ledkins wouldn’t give up though and scored two more goals for American Fork, making the halftime score 7-3 for Lone Peak.

Both teams traded goals early in the second half making the score 10-6 for Lone Peak at the 19:20 mark. That would be the last Lone Peak goal as American Fork scored the next six goals while the defense allowed zero, completing the comeback and winning the Girls Division B title, 12-10.

Ledkins finished with 7 goals including the only three goals of the first half and three in a row in the middle of the six-goal run. Keilani Walker had 2 goals while Lilly Snowden, Makayla McNall and Bekah Shepard each had 1 goal for American Fork. Goalie Melissa Fisher had 12 saves for American Fork including several late in the game to keep the Knights off the scoreboard.

“I really believed in this team,” said American Fork Head Coach Ray Langhaim. “I told them if they played their game they could come back and win, and they did. Our defense was out of sync at the beginning of the game but then started talking and made plays in the second half. Our goalie came up big and has been playing great. I’ve been doing this for eight years so it feels good to get a championship.”

Bingham Beats Woods Cross, Claims UHSAA Girls Class C Championship

Two historic programs squared off in the Girls Class C Championship on Friday with Bingham pulling off the 20-13 win over Woods Cross.

Bingham controlled the tempo throughout the game, winning draws and squashing any Wildcat runs.

Addison Hatch and Sophie Curtis had 4 goals and 1 assist while Ashlyn Smith, Olivia Gilbert and Hailey Nash had two goals each for the Miners.

“It feels amazing, I’m still shaking right now,” said Bingham Head Coach Sydney Christensen. “Our Freshman goalie, Morgan Edmund, had amazing saves and am excited for her future. All we can do is go up from here.”

Congrats to all the girls teams on a great season!

— Tim Haslam