Carly Wilhoite (above) scored 4 times but the Tigers could not prevail against the Shamrocks in Final-4
by Grace Nunn
Photos by Alex Eicher
Mason, Ohio – Wednesday, June 2nd, the Women’s Tigers Lacrosse team drove to Mason for the semi-finals in the state tournament. They faced the Dublin Coffman “Rocks” who beat Upper Arlington in a surprising upset 11-9 to make the Final-4.
The game began and finished, very close. It was 1-1, then 2-1 Tigers, then 4-2 Rocks. The sidelines were on edge with both teams fighting for the win. In the final seconds of the first half, Carly Wilhoite (senior) scored another goal bringing the Tigers only one point behind the Rocks.
Unfortunately, after a hard-fought game in rainy and cold weather, the Tigers fell, losing only by 2. The final score was 9-7.
Dublin Coffman went on to the State Championship game Saturday, June 5th, playing New Albany. The Rocks then beat New Albany with a buzzer goal 13-12, making them the D1 state champs.
Wilhoite scored 4 times, Hanna Wenger added 2 scores, and Josey Storm one. Senior Maggie Nance had 4 saves.
Loveland, Ohio – Thursday, May 27th the Loveland Tigers fought hard for the regional title against Mason High School, a very even match-up. The game could’ve gone either way, but the women fought hard and won 11-10.
The game started and finished very back and forth. Just a few minutes into the game it was 2-1 Loveland. Then they were tied at 3. Every second of the game counted with Loveland and Mason constantly scoring a goal to tie or one-up the other team.
Watch this highlight video of the Loveland women’s lacrosse team in its game vs Mason
This proved true all the way to the final 5 minutes of the game with Carly Wilhoite (senior) scoring Loveland’s 10th goal and Mason scoring their 10th goal shortly after.
Josey Storm (senior) shot the team’s winning goal after the team ran the clock down to 2 minutes. These final minutes afterward were extremely frantic with Mason pushing for a goal to tie the game and Loveland trying to run the ball until the time would run out.
With just 12 seconds left, Mason’s goalie launched the ball to her teammates when Elly Steinbrunner (sophomore) jumped in from defense and intercepted the ball. Unfortunately, a time-out was called by Mason’s coach before Elly got the ball, so Mason still had the ball in their possession.
At this point, there were 7 seconds left in the game, but the time was reset back to the 12 seconds before the goalie threw the ball. Loveland and Mason huddled up to devise their strategies for the final seconds of the game. Mason still had a chance to tie the game up.
Mason ran straight to the goal, but unfortunately for them, shot the ball way too far. After being passed the ball, Maggie Nance (senior goalie) held it for the final 3 seconds. Thus, the Loveland Women’s Lacrosse Team beat Mason 11-10, winning regionals and moving on to the semi-finals.
The Tigers will be playing the Dublin Coffman Shamrocks at Mason High School on Wednesday, June 2nd. Dublin beat Upper Arlington 11-9, a major upset for the 10-time state champions.
Dublin Senior Ashleigh Rothe is on the MaxPreps State leaderboard in Goals in 8th position. She is followed by team mates, Seniors Avery Schwab in 9th and Amanda Bailey, 13th). Avery Swab is #4 in assists. Sophia Schwab is #19 on the leaderboard in assists.
![[Final-4 Bound] Tiger Women are Regional Lacrosse Champions](https://lovelandmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/lacrosse-final-4.jpg)
Mason 10
Loveland 11