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Sports

Brighton Girls Lacrosse Claims State Championship

Division 1 crown won 17-15 in thrilling fashion against Ann Arbor Pioneer.

A year after they lost in the state finals, the Brighton High School girls lacrosse team battled all the way back to the championship game this year and prevailed.

The Bulldogs took the Division 1 state championship, the school's first in girls lacrosse, Saturday against Ann Arbor Pioneer, 17-15, in overtime, at Troy Athens High School in Troy.

The contest featured two of the top-ranked teams in the state, and the resulting game between Brighton (16-5-1, ranked sixth) and Ann Arbor Pioneer (18-4, ranked second) delivered.

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Brighton fell quickly down 3-0 in the first few minutes of the game. The Bulldogs had trouble gaining momentum, cutting the deficit to one goal four times before they tied the game at six.  Brighton senior midfielder Katelyn Scott was a force throughout the first half, scoring three goals, as well as sophomore midfielder Haley Mclean, who popped in two.

"I wasn't worried, we were confident, we've come back from scores that were higher than that before, we knew we could do it, so we kept fighting through it," Scott said about the early struggles.

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With the game still tied near the end of the first half, Brighton's sophomore goalie Lauren Cole came out of the net to battle for a ground ball, but ended up pushing the Pioneer player, resulting in a reset shot for Pioneer. By rule, Cole had to stand out of the net behind the shooter, leaving it wide open.

On the ensuing shot Brighton sophomore defender Taelor Mailloux got her stick on the ball to save the goal, but was given a yellow card for having her foot in the crease. 

Pioneer was awarded another shot, this time with Cole in, and failed to convert.

Shortly after, Scott scored to put Brighton up for the first time, and the Bulldogs led at halftime, 7-6.

At the start of the second half, Brighton came alive, with Scott and senior midfielder Shiann Darkangelo scoring one after another. The Bulldogs eventually led 13-8, but Pioneer began to claw away at their own deficit. Pioneer scored four in a row to get within one, and despite two huge saves by Cole in the last minute, Ann Arbor was able to muster one more goal to tie the game at 13, with just three seconds left.

Overtime was next, with two three-minute periods of regular play. If the score was still tied after those two periods, a sudden death period would ensue. Brighton and Pioneer traded goals through the first and second, but Darkangelo put Brighton up for good, scoring to make it 16-15 with 1:19 left in the second overtime period. 

The Bulldogs were able to retain possession in the frantic seconds after that, and some patient ball movement led to Mclean isolating herself in front of the Pioneer net with 14 seconds left. Mclean made no mistake and buried the goal and the game, making it 17-15.

Brighton's stars shone with Scott scoring six goals, Darkangelo with three goals and key faceoff wins to give her team the possession edge, and Cole with multiple clutch saves near the end of regulation and overtime. However, Brighton head coach Mike Staruch said the result was an entire team effort.

"Everybody contributed who played today, even the bench, their experience, their enthusiasm helps everyone," he said.

The win capped a dominating regular season and a thrilling playoff run for Brighton, all to get back to where they ended up last year, when they lost to Rockford 15-14 in the championship game.

"Last year we lost and it was one of the worst feelings in the world, and we knew we didn't want that to happen again," Scott said. "We worked all season for this, we've been dreaming of it all season, working so hard, and for it to finally come true, it's surreal."

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