For the first 35 minutes of Saturday’s Class 1A girls lacrosse state championship game against American Heritage of Delray Beach, Lake Highland Prep showed why it was undefeated going into the contest.
In the battle of the past two state champs, the Highlanders fought back from an early three-goal deficit and another two-goal deficit in the second half to take a lead.
But Heritage showed why it was ranked at No. 1 in MaxPreps national rankings, one spot ahead of Lake Highland, when it scored four goals in less than four minutes and hung on for an 11-9 victory at the Austin-Tindall Sports Complex in Kissimmee.
It’s only the third loss in three seasons for the Highlanders (20-1), who won the 2019 FHSAA final before the COVID-19 outbreak halted spring sports playoffs last year. Two of those losses were against American Heritage (16-1), the 2018 state champ.
“I didn’t see any quit in us today,” LHP coach Chris Robinson said. “It was a great season. We just ran into a team that executed better today.”
The Stallions held a 4-1 lead with seven minutes to go in the first half before Highlanders senior Olivia Adamson scored three unanswered goals in the span of 3:30 on the game clock to tie the score. The Stallions scored in the final minute to take a 5-4 lead into halftime.
American Heritage expanded the lead to 6-4 but the Highlanders once again scored three unanswered goals, two of them by Ashley Thurston, to take a 7-6 lead with 16:40 to go.
Heritage turned up the heat with a four-goal barrage and the Stallions held possession for almost all of the last four minutes to seal the win.
“We had to play entirely too much defense the whole game,” Robinson said. “Our strong suit all year has been the draw and we didn’t do well on the draw today. When you don’t have possession of the ball, it’s tough to win in lacrosse with the way the rules are now.”
Adamson had eight goals in the tournament, with five coming on Friday against Ponte Vedra. Thurston had seven goals, three of them in the final. Gigi Adamson had seven saves for the Highlanders on Saturday, six in the first half.
This story was first published at OrlandoSentinel.com. Varsity Content Editor Buddy Collings contributed to this report. He can be reached by email at bcollings@orlandosentinel.com.
