Girls lacrosse: Loyola runs by Glenbrook South in state title game
It took the Loyola girls lacrosse team only 16 seconds to show that it was determined to complete an undefeated season Friday in the state championship game at Glenbrook South against the host Titans. The Ramblers, incredibly, scored 2 goals in the opening 16 seconds of the contest.
First Adrienne Leone got a goal just 8 seconds in, then teammate Maley Starr raced down the field to tally the second goal just 8 seconds later.
The Ramblers rode the early wave to win the state title 18-7, but still, it was a tremendous season and great playoff run for the Titans, who claimed the second-place trophy.
"This is an incredible feat for us to have gotten to this point," said Glenbrook South coach Devin Mccue. "We started right out of the gate this season under a two-week quarantine so we were trying to play catch up.
"We had a limited number of practices, but we managed to learn really quickly the things we wanted to learn, and not only learn them but do them well. Then the girls peaked to start the playoffs, which is the right time to peak."
Loyola led 4-0 very early, but the Titans cut the lead in half after goals from Arianna Freimuth and Belle Tiesi.
But the Ramblers then scored a flurry of goals in a hurry and led 13-4 at halftime.
"Loyola is a tough team," said Mccue. "They've got 12 horses in the race in the starting lineup and 12 more great players on the sidelines."
The Titans were able to close the gap slightly in the second half behind scores from Tiesi and Meg Bireley, but behind 7 goals from Ellie Lazaretto, Loyola (25-0) ran away with the win.
Starr scored 3 goals for Loyola, while Sarah John also had a goal for the Titans.
And according to Bireley, a senior, Glenbrook South was focused on winning a title but realized that the runner-up trophy is a tremendous achievement as well.
"This is huge, I couldn't ask for a better way to end my senior year," said Bireley. "I'm so happy to do it on our home turf, that made it really special, and I'm just so proud of this team to make it this far.
"It's our best finish in program history," she added. "Going into the playoffs, it was just a whole new mentality, win and move on, lose and go home. We knew what was on the line and we knew we could make it here (to the championship game). We just kept on pushing hard, and it happened because we played well at the right time."