Girls' Championship Games Set After Semifinal Action
Bear River/Provo, Park City/Fremont, Skyridge/Riverton
The Girls’ semifinals are over and the championship matchups are set. The action on Tuesday at Westminster was end-to-end featuring several great games and players leaving it all on the field.
Photos
You can see photos of the games by Hill & Hill Photography by clicking the links below.
4A - Bear River v. Timpanogos
4A - Provo v. Judge Memorial
5A - Park City v. Salem Hills
5A - Fremont v. Olympus
6A - Skyridge v. Lone Peak
Also, we interviewed coaches and players from each game and put them on the Utah Lax Report Instagram. Go check them out here.
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Girls’ 4A Semifinal Recap
No. 1 Bear River is not ready to let another team take the 4A championship. Coming into the game, the team was on a 20-0 winning streak, and extended it by overtaking No. 5 Timpanogos, 20-1. They now will go on to play the Provo Bulldogs in the final.
Top scorer Mollie Call made the first goal of the day within seconds of the start of the first quarter, her first of six points for the game. Captain Jeanine Webb then brought the score two 2-0 with her first of five points total. Bear River ended the quarter up 5-0 going into the second.
Here they still kept the Timberwolves scoreless, but not for lack of trying on the part of Timpanogos. While they had possession for almost half of the game they just couldn’t get past Bear defensive players like senior Alyssa Brielle and junior Sydnee Pehrson whom coach Jeremy Webb called the “heart and soul” of the team. Even when the Timberwolves broke through the Bear River defensive line they were shut down by goalie Tristin Smart.
It wasn’t until the fourth quarter that Timpanogos got on the board. With less than four minutes to go Senior Jada Intharath was able to find the back of the net when Smart stepped out.
“The offense was selfless today,” said Bear River Head Coach Jeremy Webb. “We don’t care who scores. What matters is that we play how we practice every day. We get excited for anyone who scores.”
In the second 4A semifinal, it was the Bulldogs versus the Bulldogs as No. 2 Provo took on No. 3 Judge Memorial to see who would face Bear River in the finals. Judge scored first, with senior Tessa Fowler going from defense to offense for the goal. Provo junior Ashlyn Moser then answered back, setting up a 1-1 game. By the end of the quarter, it was 2-2.
The second quarter saw the teams trading blows equally, with Moser getting two more goals for Provo, and junior Claire Chambers and senior Emma Parke each scoring one. It wasn’t enough to keep Judge at bay, though, and thanks to goals by sophomore Sofia Delpouys, junior Caroline Chachas, and junior Tess Jacobsen, the Bulldogs from Salt Lake led at the half 7-6.
The tables turned in the third quarter though, with Provo putting on a surge and senior Paige Barry tying things up in the first 15 seconds. The back and forth continued, and it looked to be anyone’s game, but Provo was able to score six more, while Judge only added four to their score, going into the quarter, 12-11.
Parke got her third goal of the game in the first moments of the fourth quarter, and from there Provo continued to wide the gap, hitting 16 points within four minutes of the start of the quarter. Then they slowed it down, keeping Judge from making any big moves, and only allowing them two more points, ending the game 16-13.
“This is a huge honor, all of us know how special this moment is,” said Provo Head Coach Megan Jensen. “This is a very special team, and we feel super grateful and super excited.”
The 4A Championship will be held at 1:00pm on Thursday at Zions Bank Stadium.
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Girls’ 5A Semifinal Recap
It was a hot start for No. 1 Park City as their scoring duo of sophomore Natalia Szwajkun and junior Sophia Mondschein hit the field ready to score. Mondschien drew blood first, scoring against No. 5 Salem Hills in the early minutes of the first quarter. She and Szwajkun then traded off goals until the Miners were up 6-0 going into the second quarter.
For most of the second quarter, it looked like the Skyhawks might remain scoreless, with Park City’s defense setting up a wall of white around their goal. It seemed like midfielder freshman Georgia Kostuchenko was EVERYWHERE, stopping balls. With just over four minutes left, junior Ruby Lindstrom finally broke through, putting Salem Hills on the board. Lindstrom also scored the second point of the game for the Skyhawks in a penalty shot caused when Mondschein got a yellow card for a check to the head. Then, with just seconds to go in the half, junior Rachel Turner got one more in, bringing it up to three for Salem Hills at the half.
That was enough for the Miners. They allowed the Skyhawks just one more point when captain Lina Hughes forced a turnover in the third quarter and fed it to Turner for the team’s fourth and final score of the game.
At the 11-minute mark in the fourth quarter, the clock started running as Park City topped 14 points thanks to moves by Mondschein, Szwajkun, Kostuchenko, and juniors Avery Blair and Sydney Hatcher. Senior Annie Ellie scored the final point of the game with two minutes to go, giving Park City the win 16-4.
“How lucky are we to have our last line of defense be Mckinsey Darling,” said Park City Head Coach Adam Ghitelman. “The defense is spectacular and such an experienced group and play well together. Defense wins championships, we’re lucky to have that back line.”
Szwajkun led the Miners with 6 goals and 1 assist. Mondschein had 3 goals while Blair and Coco Crawford each had 2 goals.
In the most exciting contest of the day No. 2 Fremont took on No. 6 Olympus in a game that ended in an overtime finish that will be debated for some time to come.
The Silverwolves had the upper hand in the first quarter, scoring a total of seven, while Olympus scored just two. That was flipped in the second quarter, with Olympus goalie Halle Peterson shutting out all attempts by Fremont, while the Titan offense was able to score four on Silverwolves goalie Greeley Kelley. The half ended 7-6 with Fremont in the lead.
The third quarter was fiery as both teams turned up the heat. In the first minute of the third quarter, junior Amberly Boyce tied it up seven all for the Titans. Then Olympus briefly took the lead thanks to a shot from junior Amelia Bell.
The lead didn’t last for long, and junior Makenzi Overdiek evened things out for Fremont with a penalty shot. Senior and captain, Brylee Jeppsen, then put Fremont back in the lead for her first of two goals in the third quarter. Along with a goal from junior Ava Jewett, the Silverwolves went into the final quarter 11-9.
Then things got even wilder.
In the first moments of the fourth quarter, Fremont seemed to be running away with the win, with back-to-back goals from Jeppsen and freshman Avery Jenkins. A red card was then called on sophomore Kenlee Mitton, giving Olympus an opportunity, which they took. Junior Amberly Boyce scored twice in the last four minutes of the game, and then sophomore Zaria Rubsamen took a penalty shot with two minutes left in the game to send it into overtime, tied at 13.
It seemed to be all over when Olympus sophomore Mia Gabbart ran the ball downfield and took a shot that appeared to go in, but didn’t. Olympus began to celebrate but the officials conferred and concluded it didn’t go in. Fremont took it to the other end and earned a free position opportunity. With under a minute remaining in the overtime period, junior Clara McCormick scored her only goal of the game and took it home for Fremont.
“We just knew we needed to put in the grind in order to win,” said Fremont Head Coach Seth Jones. “It was a blast. I lost my voice screaming and we did a great job.”
Greeley finished with 11 saves for Fremont. Jeppsen and Overdeik had 4 goals and 1 assist each.
No. 1 Park City will take on No. 2 Fremont at 4:00pm on Thursday at Zions Bank Stadium.
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Girls’ 6A Semifinal Recap
No. 1 Skyridge took on No. 4 Lone Peak for their third meeting of the year, and Skyridge was first to put a goal on the board, with sophomore Liv Enger hitting the back of the net. The Falcons kept it up throughout the first half with senior Tessa Jamison scoring four, and sophomores Sophia Fife and Sage Curtis each scoring three. By the end of the first half, Skyridge was up 16-4. This, despite the best efforts of senior Norah Lisonbee and the rest of the Knights.
Skyridge kept up their onslaught in the second half with the clock running the whole time. At one point, the Falcons were up 22-4 before Knight seniors Clara Terry and Lucy McMurray each scored one to bring it up to 22-6. Enger then pulled one more goal for Skyridge, and it ended 23-6.
“Our defense was incredible today,” said Skyridge Head Coach Michelle Beuchner. “This was one of our best games and we have a lot of trust and confidence in each other.”
Summer Buechner finished with 5 goals and 7 assists for Skyridge and also had 15 draw controls.
In the night cap, No. 2 Riverton beat No. 3 Mountain Ridge, 12-11. It was the perfect way to end the day for lacrosse fans as both teams put on a show.
Suli Tafisi opened the scoring, giving Riverton the early 1-0 lead. Great ball movement by Riverton led to a goal by Marlei Young extend the Silverwolves lead to 2. Next, Cara Erramouspe led a fast-break for Riverton and found Young wide open. Young buried it to make the score 3-0 for Riverton. With under a minute play in the first quarter, Lucy Rigby scored for Mountain Ridge on a free-position to cut the Riverton lead to 2.
Mountain Ridge scored first in the second quarter with Kaitlyn Selway finding the back of the net. Rigby tied the game at the 8 minute mark off a free-position shot that hit the top left corner. Riverton answered with a back-to-back free-position goals as by Paisley Young and Maggie Bird. Both teams would continue to battle and trade goals, leading to a 7-5 halftime score in favor of Riverton.
The second half was neck and neck and each team remembered that a trip to the championship game was on the line. With under two minutes left in regulation, with the game tied at 11, Erramouspe earned a free-position opportunity and converted when she bounced it into the back of the net on the far pipe. That would be enough for Riverton to punch its ticket to the championship game.
“It feels full circle for me,” said Riverton Head Coach Hannah Kelleher, who played at Westminster. “It’s great to be back and a little bittersweet as I miss playing.”
Maggie Bird had 4 goals and an assist to lead Riverton.
No. 1 Skyridge will take on No. 2 Riverton at 10:00am on Thursday at Zions Bank Stadium.
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That’s it for this today! See you on the sidelines tomorrow.