As the Cleveland Heights girls’ lacrosse team held a three-goal lead midway through the second half against Medina, the Tigers' championship destiny appeared certain.
Get past the defending Division I state champions, and the remaining road either had teams they dominated during the regular season or a rival who could have provided just the right amount of motivation for the top-ranked Tigers.
Unfortunately, Cleveland Heights had the No. 3 Battling Bees on the ropes only to watch it unspool from a string to a bare thread that Medina junior attacker Ellie Hudson-Heck snapped with the game-winner at 5:19. That gave Medina an 11-10 victory in the Ohio Schoolgirls Lacrosse Association Division I regional final at Hawken School on Tuesday.
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Hudson-Heck gathered up a pass from Megan Wolfgang that wasn’t intended for her. The minor mishap ended up being a glorious happening for the Bees and the end of Cleveland Heights’ season.
“It was kind of a surprise to me," Hudson-Heck said. "She was passing to another teammate, and I kind of had the overthrown pass. I was able to get the goal, and I wasn’t even really focused on getting the goal. It kind of just happened. It was amazing. It was awesome."
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Hudson-Heck had three goals overall for Medina (14-2) and Carrie Kubasta, Katherine Doraty, Sydney Thomas and Katie Keefe each had two goals, while Marissa McHugh had four assists. Meg Lentz led the Tigers (10-7) with four goals and an assist, while Margeaux Apple had two goals.
Heights coach Terry Saylor said costly defensive mistakes more than mere misfortune prevented his team from slamming the door shut on Medina. After getting behind early, Saylor elected to make a switch.
“We called a timeout and changed the defense. We shut them down for the next 20 minutes. That’s when we went from being down, 6-4, to being up, 9-6. That defense should have been successful throughout. (But) we suddenly stopped doing the things that made it successful,” Saylor said.
The Tigers haven’t beaten the Bees since 2006, the year Cleveland Heights last won the state title. In this contest, Medina ousted Cleveland Heights in a nip-and-tuck affair that featured seven ties and six lead changes.
After falling two goals behind for the only time in the game, 6-4, at 10:04 of the first half, the Tigers rattled off five straight goals as Olivia Lash took a feed from Ellie Austin and powered down the field and blasted home a score to give Heights a 9-6 lead with 16:36 remaining in the second half.
But whatever threat the thunderous score implied, Medina clearly ignored it.
Medina ran off four straight goals as Keefe and Thomas had scores that bookended Kubasta’s two goals as the Bees regained the lead, 10-9, with 9:50 remaining.
Lentz found Tali Lugasy to knot the game, 10-10, at 7:52, but Hudson-Heck gathered in a pass she didn’t expect from Wolfgang for the game-winner.
Saylor’s disappointment was palpable as his team was ranked No. 1 throughout much of the season. Expectations were much higher than repeating another trip to the regional final where Hudson stopped them at this stage last year.
Had Cleveland Heights won, it would have faced New Albany in the Division I semifinals. Heights won, 17-10, earlier this year. A Division I final would have had them facing either Upper Arlington, which they defeated, 11-6, or its nemesis Hudson, which beat them, 11-9.
“Our area has the three top teams in us, Medina and Hudson,” Saylor said. “Only two can go, and it’s not us.”