FHSAA girls lacrosse playoffs: Bartram Trail, Ponte Vedra exit in semifinals

CLASS 2A

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 Friday, and into a berth in Saturday's 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 opponents' 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 played 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 only got as close as five goals but Gilmore added two late goals to finish off the night for Vero Beach.

Vega led with five goals for Vero Beach, which went unbeaten in state playoffs from 2006 to 2015 until losing to the Bears in the 2016 final.

CLASS 1A

Lake Highland Prep, the top ranked girls lacrosse team across all classifications, overcame a 3-0 deficit and rolled to an 18-8 win over sixth ranked Ponte Vedra (17-5-0) in Friday's FHSAA Class 1A state semifinal.

Lake Highland (21-0-0) will meet American Heritage, a 20-5 winner over Community School of Naples, for the championship at 5 p.m.

A Trish Balser goal gave Ponte Vedra a 6-4 lead with six minutes to go in the first half, but that was one of the few highlights the Lady Sharks saw for the remainder of the game.

Lake Highland scored 11 unanswered goals to take a 15-6 lead and cruise to win. Olivia Adamson scored five goals, Ashley Thurston four and Kate Hanlon three for the nationally-ranked Highlanders.

Anna Taraboletti had three goals for Ponte Vedra and Sami Lowinger added two.

J. Daniel Pearson/Special to the Times-Union