DELAWARE, Ohio -- The Pirates' swashbuckling assault on the DII Ohio Girls' Lacrosse Tournament brackets was halted by a high-octane Cincinnati Mariemont team Saturday morning. Rocky River was defeated, 16-6, in the tournament's championship game held at Selby Stadium on the campus of Ohio Wesleyan University.
A late first-half run of seven straight Mariemont goals -- in a span of just three minutes-and-33 seconds -- put the Warriors in front to stay after a back-and-forth tussle throughout the first 20 minutes of play. Marah Campbell (four goals, assist) and Marley Megowen (five goals) led an impressive Warrior attack which for the game would score 16 goals on 27 shots (21 on goal). The Warriors' transition defense did well to set up Campbell, Megowen, and five other Mariemont (19-3) players who would tally netfinders in the contest. The Pirates went just 5-of-11 in clearing opportunities, and, save for a Grace Harte goal with three seconds remaining in the first half, Rocky River (15-7) was shut down for a large swath of clock time stretching from the final minutes of the first all the way to final minutes of the second when Olivia Konopka landed her fourth goal of the game.
River got off to a strong start, getting three Olivia Konopka goals on the way to taking a 4-3 lead by the 6:51-mark of the first. But when the Warriors' Sarah Corner knotted the game, 4-4, with a goal at the four-minute mark it would open the floodgates for a powerful Mariemont offense which went into Saturday's final averaging 15.1 goals per game. With Pirate clearing turnovers helping balloon Warrior possession time, Mariemont went on its 7-0 run. Only Harte's goal before halftime ended the Warrior run. Even then, it was more of a pause for Mariemont which extended its lead to 12-5 by the 20-minute mark of the second.
River wouldn't get its sixth goal until Iris Polly assisted on Olivia Konopka's fourth goal of the morning at 2:50. The twine-finder marked Konopka's team-leading 52nd of the season. It would be the Pirates' final tally in a disappointing loss. But also the final score posted by a remarkable 2021 Rocky River team.
It was a spring of Rocky River Lacrosse led by a baker's-dozen 13 seniors: Kaitlyn Carlin, Nicole Contenza, Sarah Farling, Grace Harte, Evie Kelley, Caitlyn Kelly, Allie Kysela, Eve Larsen, Maya Patti, Makenzie Runyon, Molly Sheridan, Lauren Solecki, and Blair Willse. And what they and their teammates and the Pirate coaching staff cooked up was pretty impressive.
River won 10-of-its-first-12 games before faltering in four straight heading into the postseason. With home playoff wins over Toledo Central Catholic, Toledo Notre Dame, Wooster, and Walsh, the Pirates earned a Region 5 title. And then the Double-R pulled off a marvelous 7-6, come-from-behind victory over Hathaway Brown in their state semifinal Tuesday at Strongsville High School. With Olivia Konopka, Allie Kysela, Ella Nejad, Blair Willse, Grace Harte, and Iris Polly leading the offense, and Hannah Burgess, Maya Patti, Madeline Lundin, Kalyn Scalabrino, and Sarah Farling leading the defense, the Pirates played winning team lacrosse up and down the field.
Winning lacrosse all the way to a championship Saturday when they came up against a talented Warriors team from Cincinnati.
Those Pirates return on the team bus today with no championship trophy on board. But its a bus full of winners who will arrive back at Rocky River High School with things that they will always have and treasure. The appreciation of an engaged and supportive community. Each other. And memories of one swashbuckling Pirate spring.
CANNON FIRE ...
FROM THE BUCS SCORE: Scoring points Saturday were Konopka (four goals), Iris Polly (goal, assist), Grace Harte (goal), Blair Willse (assist). Mariemont outshot Rocky River, 27-15. The Warriors put 16 shots on goal to the Pirates' 9. ... Maya Patti filed two grounds balls, a draw control, and two caused turnovers.
BRACKET ATTACK: Konopka logged 21 points in the playoffs. She had 11 goals and 10 assists. Polly was the only River player to score a point in all six playoff games; she scored seven points and added three assists. She finished the season as the Pirates' fourth-leading goal scorer, with 23 goals (Konopka 52, Kysela 47, Nejad 26).
by Skip Snow
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