USM girls fall to Hudson by single goal in state lacrosse title game

SUN PRAIRIE – University School of Milwaukee fell to Hudson 12-11 in the third annual Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association state girls lacrosse championship June 13.

A go-ahead goal by Hudson's Josie Jones with 42 seconds remaining lifted the Raiders to a repeat title, while USM fell to runner-up for the second time in three years. The title game was a rematch of a May 16 meeting with Hudson that went 17-7 to the Raiders, but USM was confident in its preparation the second time around.

"I think we focused too much on them. This week we really put an emphasis on focusing on USM and what we do best," coach Kate Viviano said.

The Wildcats kept pace early with Hudson despite falling behind 2-0 on goals by Harper Bradley and Josie Jones in the first three minutes. USM answered with two goals of its own coming in seven seconds of game clock. Senior Sofie Bucher assisted fellow senior Gabi Ortiz Fleet on the first, while senior Darcy Doyle capitalized on the momentum of a won faceoff out of the ensuing stoppage to penetrate and score an early equalizer to make it 2-2 with 8:29 left in the first period.

USM took the lead just under two minutes later as Bucher took advantage of a free shot to give the Wildcats a 3-2 advantage. Hudson answered with a 3-0 run to close out the quarter. The Raiders tied things up at three on a Reagan Kubler assist to Jones. Then Jones would score unassisted three minutes later to take a 4-3 lead. Disaster struck for USM in the final minute of the first as senior goalie Alice Gardner lost possession behind the net, which Bradley took advantage of for a goal to make it 5-3 after one quarter.

The Wildcats climbed back within a goal nearly four minutes into the second quarter as Doyle scored unassisted. Hudson responded with three straight goals over the next four minutes. Vanessa Pedersen scored off an assist from Gretchen Whitten, Bradley scored on a free position shot and Whitten added an unassisted tally to make it 8-4. Anna Solberg cut the rally in the final two minutes of the half with a free position goal to take an 8-5 deficit into the half.

"The message [at half] was, 'We believe in you, flip a switch of your attitude right now and believe in yourselves,' " Viviano said.

The lead for Hudson grew to five early in the second half as Pedersen scored unassisted and Bradley added a free position goal. Doyle cut it back to three in the latter half of the third, scoring a pair of free position goals to make it 10-7 Hudson.