Rockford stuns No. 2 South Lyon United in girls lacrosse state finals
· Yahoo Sports
Rockford couldn’t dump a Gatorade bucket on coach Mark Neumen at midfield after upsetting No. 2 South Lyon United 16-9 in the Division 1 girls lacrosse state championship.
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The game was the first of two state finals on June 5 at Parker Middle School in Howell, so the MHSAA didn’t want puddles or ice cubes on the field before Detroit Country Day and East Grand Rapids warmed up for the second championship game.
Instead, the fifth-ranked Rams (12-8) settled for a staged ice-water bath on the sideline.
“Wait, you got anything in your pocket?” someone asked Neumen as the fifth-year coach patted his slacks and braced to be doused.
And that was the only predictable moment of the evening.
United, the defending state champion, entered 27-0 and hadn't lost in two seasons. Its average goal differential of 9.07 was nearly double that of every team in the state except Haslett. None of that mattered to the Rams, who outscored United 6-2 in the first quarter and never looked back.
That surge included three of senior Brooke Gordon's game-high six goals.
“We absolutely did not expect to come out that quickly – absolutely not,” Neumen said. “To put them in an uncomfortable position was definitely beneficial to us, putting them behind the eight ball like that, because they haven’t had to fight back like that since they’ve been crushing teams all season. So we just wanted to keep riding the wave because with a good team like that, we wanted to take the will out of them.”
That makes sense because the Rams had the will taken out of them the past two seasons.
Two years ago, they lost to Brighton by three goals in the state championship. Last season, they lost to Hartland by one in heartbreaking fashion in the semifinals.
“That past experience, that hurt from having lost last year in overtime to Hartland in a final four game, that motivated our senior girls,” Neumen said. “They have been in positions like this before, and they understand that mental part of the game.”
After a grueling regular season that included wars with top-ranked EGR, No. 7 Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central and No. 8 Spring Lake, the Rams doubled down in practice over the past three weeks. They knew they were battle-tested for the postseason. They'd been through so many close games that facing a state power like United didn't make them nervous.
“We’ve shown in tough games with East Grand Rapids, and the Spring Lake game, that we can play with the best teams in the state,” said sophomore Ava Wekenman, who scored three goals and had five assists. “We had the hardest conference to play in to get here, so it shows that we can go against the best teams like we did today. We’ve been working hard to make sure that we peak at the right time. The beginning of the season was rough, but we turned it around to get here and get this win.”
That’s not to say United didn’t rally.
Gabriela Lucchesi found a streaking Cate Cumberland for a goal that made it 8-6 late in the first half.
Twin sister Gianna Lucchesi buried a long shot to make it a two-goal game again midway through the third quarter.
But Rockford kept responding. Ella Larva and Ava Wekenman each scored twice in the fourth, and Gordon buried a tough shot while strafing from left to right.
“Not really, no, we didn’t expect to start so fast, but once we got going and got into a rhythm, we wanted to keep it going, keep it going, keep it going,” Gordon said.
And Rockford did. It never trailed United, a team that won 20 games by mercy rule.
Also helping the Rams were Avery Maag with three goals and an assist, Jordyn Coretti with one goal and three assists and Ella Wagenmaker and Gordon with one assist each.
“We knew that our defense was going to have to really step up because we knew they had some strong attackers,” United coach Deanna Radcliffe said. “We got in a hole pretty fast, and we couldn’t really recover from it. We had moments, but it just didn’t go our way today.”
Reagan Shields, Gianna Lucchesi, Alyssa Jakubiec and Shelyn Perry scored two goals apiece for United. Shields, Gabriela Lucchesi and Perry each added an assist.
Even when United tried to mount a comeback, Rockford didn’t flinch.
“This group was the most relaxed I’ve seen them all year, and I think that’s due to our practices,” Neumen said. “The last three weeks of practice have been amazing. They’ve been working their tails off all three weeks, being prepared for this day, and I think that gave them confidence. They believed in the process and in their abilities to get the job done, and they played amazingly.”
The only thing that didn’t go their way was the postgame Gatorade bucket dump.
But just as resilient as they looked every time United closed the gap, the Rams found a way to ice their coach and put the finishing touches on a state championship season.
They always had a plan for when things went awry.
“We knew they were going to score because they’re a good team,” Neumen said. “So we just didn’t want to give up back-to-back goals or give them any momentum. So if we gave up a goal, we wanted to get one or two of our own and keep that hammer going. We didn’t want to give them any energy to make a run.”
Let Charlotte Cook: Sophomore finishes epic comeback for Detroit Country Day
To say Charlotte Cook has the clutch gene would be an understatement.
The sophomore came up with timely goal after timely goal, leading all scorers with six to help Detroit Country Day (15-5) pull off a 13-12 comeback victory over top-ranked East Grand Rapids (19-2) and repeat as Division 2 state champions.
That included tying the game at 12 with just under three minutes left in regulation and then scoring the winner with 22 seconds remaining.
EGR carried a 6-4 lead into halftime, but Cook scored the first two goals of the third quarter to tie it. She later added another to give the Yellowjackets a brief 10-9 lead at the end of the period.
Also helping the Yellowjackets were Bella Papsin with six assists, Jackie Calso with four goals and Adriana Zuk with three goals.
Jane Weaver paced the Pioneers with three goals and an assist, followed by Nora Williams, Rylee Renker and Livia Burgess with two goals and an assist apiece.
The victory marked the Yellowjackets’ third state title since 2023 and third in program history.
Brandon Folsom covers high school sports in metro Detroit for Hometown Life and the Detroit Free Press. Follow him on his new X.com account at @folsomwrites.
This article originally appeared on Hometownlife.com: MHSAA girls lacrosse finals: Rockford upsets South Lyon United, 16-9