KINGSTON – Lake-Lehman had a late-game possession with a shot at the lead.
The Black Knights had the game’s final extended possession with a chance to force overtime.
In the end, however, it was Wyoming Seminary that maintained its control of Wyoming Valley Conference girls lacrosse, clinching at least a tie for its fifth straight title with Monday’s 10-9 victory in a battle of conference unbeatens.
“For the last three years, we’ve met late in the year with both undefeated,” Lake-Lehman coach Ron Strohl said. “It always seems every year that we’re one step closer.”
Lake-Lehman won two straight Division 2 titles in 2015 and 2016. When the WVC put all teams back together in one league this year, it meant the Black Knights needed to become the first local team to deny Wyoming Seminary a title if they wanted one of their own.
Wyoming Seminary has won all six District 2 championships in the sport. The Blue Knights won the WVC as one league in its first two seasons and won Division 1 the last two and wound up clinching this season’s title with Wednesday’s 12-2 victory over Wyoming Area.
The Black Knights, who could get another shot in the District 2 Class 2A playoffs, have never come closer to knocking off northeastern Pennsylvania’s elite program.
Lake-Lehman rattled off four straight goals, by four different players, in a span of 6:07 to turn a 9-5 deficit midway through the second half into a 9-9 tie.
Katie Strohl, Jess Evans, Kate Roberts and Hallie Jenkins scored the goals to even the game with 5:59 left.
The Black Knights dominated that six-minute stretch and the time immediately after it by winning each draw after the goals were scored, then holding on to possession.
Coach Strohl said draw control was something his team focused on coming into this season after it was a shortcoming last year and rule changes altered how it was handled.
“We’ve been working on that all season long,” he said.
The coach moved his daughter to take the draws in the second half against Kate Romanowski, the reigning Times Leader Girls Lacrosse Player of the Year. Strohl, whom Romanowski said gave her trouble with her height and strength, teamed with aggressive pursuit of the ball by Roberts to give Lake-Lehman 87.5 percent of the second-half draws.
Strohl said his team is over 80 percent on draw controls for the entire season.
Lake-Lehman was unable to turn another draw win into the go-ahead goal and Wyoming Seminary got its offense going again when it gained possession.
After Grace Butler came through with two clutch saves to finish with 12 in the game, Abby Straub scored her sixth goal of the game for Wyoming Seminary with 2:39 left.
Avery Conyngham, a defender from Shavertown, gained possession and made the pass that sent Straub up field on the winning play.
“Avery got the ball and I just saw that I was open so I asked for it,” Straub said.
Mia Raineri, a sophomore goalie from Shavertown, had nine saves, including a stop with 30 seconds left when Wyoming Seminary was holding off a long Lake-Lehman possession at the end of the game.
Roberts scored three goals and assisted two others for the Black Knights (9-1). Evans scored twice.
“I expressed to them that, even though there was a negative there and a loss, you always have to look for a positive,” coach Strohl said. “We showed that even though we were mostly undersized, we worked hard, we stuck together and we proved to them that we’re a real team this year.”
