STRONGSVILLE, Ohio -- For the price of a ticket, many Rocky Riverians found their way to Pat Catan Stadium in Strongsville to take in Tuesday's Rocky River-Hathaway Brown Girls' Lacrosse DII state semifinal game. But the Pirate faithful just may have been swindled: they paid $12 a seat when only the edge of it would be needed.
With their backs against the wall -- down two (6-4) at the midpoint of the second half -- the Pirates found the will, heart, hustle, and determination to get back in the game. And some Grace under pressure.
The rest of the way, River outscored the Blazers, 3-0; Grace Harte figure in both the game-tying (at the 4:54-mark) and game-winning (1:27) goals, as the Pirates pulled off a marvelous 7-6 come-from-behind victory over the Blazers.
An early-game 3-1 lead -- built on two goals by Allie Kysela and one by Daisy Thompson -- evaporated into a 4-3 deficit by halftime. After Harte had knotted the score at 4-4 early in the second half, the Blazers fought back with back-to-back goals by Aubrey Lennon.
Lennon's second goal in that run -- her third of the contest -- lifted Hathaway Brown to a 6-4 lead at 14:34 of the second. With junior goalkeeper Hannah Burgess and her opposite number Abby Rutherford making key saves at both ends (Burgess on a monster save at 13:36) and both teams getting gutty spills and scoops, that 6-4 score had a shelf life of nearly seven minutes of game play. But when Kysela netted her third of the evening at the 7:44-mark, the Pirates (15-6) trailed by just one.
Harte's second of the game -- her 18th of the season -- came on a crafty Iris Polly assist at 4:54. Tie game. One that would be untied by that same combination some three tense minutes later.
With 1:27 remaining, it was Polly taking a pass from Harte ripping a shot past Rutherford. The lead change -- the ninth tie or lead change of the game -- gave the Pirates their first lead in over 28 minutes of game play. And River's 7-6 lead went final 87 ticks of the clock later.
The comeback sends Rocky River into the DII Ohio Championship Game, where the Pirates will see Cincinnati Mariemont which defeated Columbus Watterson, 14-13, in Tuesday's other semifinal. The Pirates and Warriors will tangle at Ohio Wesleyan University's Selby Stadium in Delaware, Ohio, on Saturday at 10 a.m.
Seats can be bought, but .. well, you know the value calculation here. These Pirates have us standing on our feet.
by Skip Snow
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