Rene Carver of Lake Region falls backward while defending an advance by Avery Lutrzykowski of St. Dom’s during the Class C girls lacrosse state championship at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland on Saturday. Portland Press Herald photo by Gregory Rec
PORTLAND — No substitutes, no problem.
Playing with just enough players for a starting lineup of 12 on the field, Saint Dominic Academy rode Avery Lutrzykowski’s eight goals, Simone Long’s four first-half saves and solid defense to an 11-8 victory over Lake Region in the Class C girls lacrosse state championship game at Fitzpatrick Stadium on Saturday.
The Saints (10-5) were without four players due to various previously schedule trips, and they lost one of their top scorers earlier in the season. But they took control Saturday with an 8-1 run after the Lakers (7-9) scored the opening goal.
“Just sheer will power,” St. Dom’s coach Leslie Klenk said. “Sheer dedication, wanting to win, not wanting to lose like we did last year.”
The Saints gained a measure of revenge after losing to the Lakers in last year’s inaugural Class C state championship game.
Lake Region’s Shauna Hancock opened the scoring about six minutes into the game, but Mia-Angelina Leslie scored back-to-back goals to give the the Saints the lead for good.
“Mia going out there and scoring those goals really brought us to the point where we needed to be at, and from there we just kept on putting them in,” Lutrzykowski said.
Lutrzykowski scored her first goal 10 minutes in. Mackenzie Siebert cut the Lakers’ deficit to 3-2, but Lutrzykowski answered with two more for an early hat trick.
Emma Theriault finished the first-half scoring with a free-position goal with 2.7 seconds left to give the Saints a 6-2 lead.
“Just coming off a big shot like that at the end of the half just boosted the girls even more, gave them a further drive to compete,” Klenk said. “Just any extra goal that we could get like that helped us maintain our stamina throughout the whole game.”
Lutrzykowski added to the Saints’ advantage with her fourth goal 44 seconds into the second half. She scored all of the Saints’ second-half goals, the last coming with 12:44 remaining to make it an 11-4 lead.
The Lakers offense woke up in the final 10-plus minutes. Siebert scored her third goal of the game to start the comeback attempt, Katie Keenan tallied the second and third of her trio, and Hancock added a second goal.
Bailey Derocher of St. Dom’s tries to find a path around Rene Carver, left, and Paige Davis of Lake Region during the Class C girls lacrosse state championship at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland on Saturday.Portland Press Herald photo by Gregory Rec
“We started being more patient on our shots, first of all, instead of just turning and shooting,” Lakers coach David Keenan said. “We were more patient, and we were more accurate, and we got better results.”
St. Dom’s was able to possess the ball enough down the stretch, including the final 43 seconds following Keenan’s final goal, with Lutrzykowski winning the ensuing draw and Leslie controlling the ball when the final horn blew.
“The key is, when you get it you have to score, and then you have to win the draw. Even when we scored we weren’t always winning the draw,” Keenan said. “Credit to them, they did a god job on the draw.”
“They were pushing us, they really wanted that ball, so it was very hard at the end, but we wanted it so badly,” Lutrzykowski said.
Lake Region goalie Emily Lake made two saves in the second half to prevent the Saints from adding to their lead. Long added two more saves in the second for six total in the game.
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