Quaker Valley falls in WPIAL 2A girls lacrosse championship game to Mars
· Yahoo Sports
UPPER ST. CLAIR TWP. – A memorable season for Quaker Valley under first-year coach Kristin Hric culminated in its first WPIAL Class 2A championship appearance since 2018.
Unfortunately for the Quakers, a juggernaut was waiting for them on the other side.
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Facing off with three-time defending champion Mars at Upper St. Clair High School on Thursday, May 21, No. 3 Quaker Valley was simply no match for the Planets’ high-powered offensive attack in a 19-5 defeat. Having already won the first meeting between the teams by a score of 15-3, No. 1 Mars raced out to an 8-0 lead to put things well out of reach in Thursday’s championship rematch. Still, the Quakers refused to throw in the towel, despite trailing by 10 at halftime and facing a running clock for the second half.
“I’ve been around the girls for a very long time. Honestly, it’s just a very special group,” Hric said. “They really, really want it. This wasn’t their goal for the season. Obviously, it was to win the WPIAL. But they’re a great group of girls, and our sights are just set farther now.”
Lucy Balazs, Katie Blake and Lola Seideneck each tallied hat tricks for Mars, while sophomore Katharine Miller scored a pair of goals to lead the way for Quaker Valley.
“They’re a great team. They deserved to be here,” Planets coach Abby Latona said about the Quakers. “We just wanted to start out electric and build momentum, then keep the ball, and we did exactly that.”
Quaker Valley’s all-time leading scorer with more than 250 career goals, senior midfielder Lucy Roig found the back of the net to get the Quakers on the board midway through the second quarter. Despite coming up short in her first and only WPIAL title game, Roig’s high school career isn’t over yet — and Hric is excited to see what she has in store for the state playoffs.
“I got to coach her all the way through [her career],” said Hric, who served as an assistant coach before taking the reins as head coach this season. “I have never seen someone with so much heart and grit. She is an absolute competitor and she wants to win. We have a lot of heart on this team, but she is the heart and soul.”
Although Roig and fellow seniors Meredith Fallgren, Mia Floro and and Alexa Westwood will be gone after the season, Quaker Valley’s lineup is full of underclassmen — including four freshmen starters — that should set them up for a bright future.
“The freshmen that we have are such a good core group, ” Hric said. “Our senior leadership really took them under their wings. … The sky’s the limit for those freshmen moving forward.”
This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Quaker Valley falls to Mars in WPIAL 2A girls lacrosse championship