The Chardon Hilltoppers girls lacrosse team defeated the Chagrin Falls Tigers on May 23 in the OHSAA Regional Semifinals, 13-7.
Game photos click here.
The Chardon Hilltoppers girls lacrosse team defeated the Chagrin Falls Tigers on May 23 in the OHSAA Regional Semifinals, 13-7.
In this highly anticipated matchup, the Hilltoppers were highly motivated and excited to face their rival. The teams had split their season series, and now, with the regional title game on the line, stakes were even higher.
“Coming into this game, I mean, we lost to them in the playoffs every year that I have been playing here,” Grace Darone said. “We had a Covid year in which we didn’t get a season, but the rest of the years we lost to Chagrin by a significant amount.
“So coming into this game, we were coming for vengeance. We beat them in the actual season. So we knew it was going to be a bit harder beating the same team twice. But I think we really came out on fire and we really wanted this one.”
Added Stella Parrish, “Coming in, we were just like, who wants it more. I think we just really had each other’s backs.”
The Hilltoppers’ high level of motivation was evident as Chardon scored seven first-half goals to take a four-goal lead into halftime, 7-3.
The Tigers would not go down without a fight. They began to pick up their defensive intensity and got to within two goals at 9-7 with a little less than 10 minutes to go in the game.
But after that point, Chardon regained the momentum and scored four more goals to make the final score.
Leading Chagrin Falls offensively were Bailey Corto (3 goals), Mary-Claire Holdren (2), Lindsay Burgess (1) and Emma Thatcher (1).
The Hilltoppers were led offensively by Darone (4 goals), Elle Deszczykiewicz (3), Parrish (2), Payton Platz (2), Skylar Duvall-Lewis (1) and Gray Tyminski (1).
After the game, Darone discussed scoring four goals in the regional semifinals.
“I could not have done it without the draws,” she said “We had amazing defenders down there getting those ground ballsand bringing it up the field for us all to score.
“Stella had some amazing looks as she was bringing the ball down the field. A couple of them ended with me (scoring a goal). Our team has just really come far from the beginning of the season, and we really know how to work together.”
Deszczykiewicz also discussed scoring three goals.
“Most of them were from my teammates. I didn’t get them all by myself,” Deszczykiewicz said. “(My goals were helped) with assist and draw controls from either Payton or Stella, or even clears from Makenna on the defensive end.”
Assisting on goals for the Hilltoppers were Maci Jahnke, Parrish, Platz, Maggie Slack and Tyminski.
