LOVELAND - In a rematch of a regular-season game played March 30, Loveland High School's girls lacrosse team prevailed again over two-time Greater Miami Conference champion Sycamore to advance to the Division I regional final game Thursday.
Monday night, the Tigers got seven goals from senior Hanna Wenger and four apiece from Carly Wilhoite and Abbie Miller to defeat Eddie Clark's Aves 18-9. It was a five-goal improvement over their win early in the season.
The Tigers were down 2-0 early, then pulled out of a 4-4 tie on a goal by Wenger and never trailed again. Senior Maggie Nance had several key stops, including one just before halftime preserving a 9-5 Loveland lead.
The Aviators would get within three at 9-6 in the second half but the Tigers hit the accelerator with nine straight, icing the game away on an unseasonably hot night weather-wise and shot-wise. Sycamore added three goals in the waning moments to make the final 18-9 Loveland.
Loveland's first-year coach is Andrea Setser, who previously assisted at St. Ursula. The Tigers won the ECC for the third time in four seasons, but more importantly are one win away from the state tournament for the first time in program history.
"It's hard, but easy coming into a program," Setser said. "You get to start things all over, start fresh, do what you want to. But, you have to have good players to buy into that program. These girls have learned new things and have been willing to try things that they didn't think were going to work. We just want to keep getting better every day. Now, we're peaking at the end of the season."
Wilhoite is the ECC's leader in goals, assists and draw controls. She will continue her career at Central Michigan. Wenger is fourth in goals and second in assists and will head south to play for the University of Tampa.
"We work really well together and that's why we're so successful," Wenger said. "We're very good depth-wise. We don't just have a couple of players."
Sycamore's season ends at 12-8, but they did tie Mason for the GMC championship. Unofficially, sophomore Laney Simons had six goals. Clark tried to encourage his girls to continue playing despite the score, but the momentum shift in the second half was noticeable.
Since April 6 when they were 3-3, Loveland has now gone 13-1 with just one overtime loss in non-conference play to Wyoming prior to the tournament.
"It definitely helps when we're on a roll," Wilhoite said. "We always kid that we're a second-half team, but tonight for sure we were a full-game team."
Added Wenger, "Energy is our motto and keeping that up is how we win the games. It's huge. We're going to the fourth round, making history."
Loveland faces Mason Thursday at Tiger Stadium. The Comets ended the season for Kings Monday night, 21-7.
The two teams scrimmaged early in the season with Loveland winning, but that was two months ago with Setser sensing improvement since then.
"We've had a chance to get better and they've had a chance to get better," Setser said.
Thursday's regional final with Mason is at 6 p.m. Should Loveland win, their first state semifinal appearance would be June 2 at a location to be determined against the winner of Upper Arlington/Thomas Worthington. Both squads defeated Loveland to open the season in March.
The OHSAA Division I girls state final is set for 4 p.m., Saturday, June 5, at 4 p.m. at Ohio Wesleyan University.
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