Girls lacrosse: York scoring surge helps it secure victory against Oak Park

Thanks to a late first-quarter scoring binge, York established control of the Friday’s Hoffman Estates girls lacrosse sectional, allowing itself to hold off a spirited Oak Park-River Forest effort 13-8 at Garber Stadium.

The Dukes (14-6) will make a Tuesday afternoon return to Hoffman Estates for a supersectional date with two-time defending state champion Loyola. The Ramblers (21-2) defeated Evanston (17-4) at home 15-10 Friday afternoon to win their own sectional championship.

“I think it was the mental game is what we conquered today,” York coach Ryan Walz said of his team avenging a 10-9 home loss to Oak Park on May 19.

“It was a tough game. We weren't mentally ready for that game, and today we were mentally ready. It showed (with) the excitement on the bench and in the field really inspired us all and helped us win today. Excellent effort by everybody, and another sectional championship is awesome.”

After the first of senior midfielder Kelsey O'Brien's two goals got OPRF (15-8) on the scoreboard at the 10:33 mark of the first period, York finally got itself in gear. The Dukes tallied four scores in the final 2:56 of the opening quarter as Kayla Mirante, sisters Bricelyn and Hayden Daniel, and Ella Skotty put the Dukes ahead to stay at 4-1 going into the second.

The lead became 6-3 in favor of the Dukes at halftime on two more goals from Bricelyn Daniel, a senior attacker.

After an Abby Evans goal expanded the Dukes advantage to 7-3 just 63 seconds into the second half, Oak Park made its last charge as scores from attackers Patterson Grant and Tess Cronin closed the gap to 7-5 with 7:43 left in the third. Then York got two scores by the Daniel sisters in the final 53 seconds of the third with Bricelyn, a senior, finding the net first followed by junior Hayden finding the net a second time 20 seconds later putting the Dukes ahead 9-5 entering the fourth period.

It was there that York eliminated any and all doubts with two more scores over the first 3:11 of the final quarter as junior Sophia Madlangbayan bounced one in, followed by Hayden Daniel's third goal.

Senior attacker Violet Plotkin's consecutive goals closed the scoring for the Huskies, who were making their first sectional final appearance since 2021.

Bricelyn Daniel, a Rider College recruit, also echoed her coach's sentiments of successfully avenging their loss to the Huskies.

“Basically, we all used that as our motivation to beat them, and obviously looking at the score I think we did a pretty good job of that. It was a great day today,” Bricelyn Daniel said.