Vero Beach girls lacrosse surges in second half to reach 2A state final

Reaching the program's first state championship game appearance in five years was never going to come easy for the Vero Beach girls lacrosse team.

Against a familiar foe, all facets of Vero Beach's roster would be put to the test and an injury to one of its key pieces provided another moment of adversity to overcome.

An explosion of offense in the second half from the trio of Emily Adams, Ana Horvit and Alexa Vega and the emergence of backup freshman goalkeeper Paige Medlin sent Vero Beach to a 14-8 win over Bartram Trail and a berth in the 2A state final.

It was the Bears who made it clear early they would be all business as Marina Dean netted two of the first three goals in the game's first minute as Bartram Trail quickly grabbed a 3-0 lead.

Unfazed by their opponent's hot start, Vero Beach answered with the next three goals from Kerrigan Gilmore, Horvit and Adams to even the game at three.

With Bartram Trail ahead 5-4 past the midway point of the first half, Vero Beach junior goalkeeper Joy Coffey came off the field with a leg injury and was replaced by Medlin, who would play the rest of the night.

Goals from Horvit and Vega closed out the first half to give Vero Beach a 6-5 advantage at halftime.

Vero Beach never let the momentum slide back to Bartram Trail from the start of the second half as Adams picked up two goals, Horvit added to her tally and three straight strikes from Vega gave Vero the cushion they needed with a 12-5 lead with nine minutes remaining.

The Bears would only get as close as five goals but Gilmore would add two late goals to finish off the night for Vero Beach.

Vega led Vero Beach with five goals with Adams, Horvit and Gilmore each scoring three times for Vero, which will square off with St. Thomas Aquinas at 5 p.m. Saturday after a regular season meeting between the two teams did not take place after a last-minute cancellation.

In the earlier semifinal Friday, the Raiders picked up a tie-breaking goal with less than four minutes left to defeat Tampa Steinbrenner 8-7.

Vero Beach is looking for their first state title since 2015, the last of a 10-year stretch beginning in 2006 where the program won state championships. St. Thomas Aquinas last appeared in a state title game in 2017 where they were defeated by Orlando Bishop Moore.