Sacred Heart Falls in Girls Lacrosse Championship Thriller

TROY – Saturday’s overtime thriller between and Grand Rapid Catholic Central was everything one has a right to expect from a state championship game. Unfortunately for the Gazelles, the Cougars won 17-16 and took the MHSAA Division II girls’ lacrosse trophy back to Grand Rapids.

Grand Rapids Catholic Central’s Emily Braun scored her fifth goal of the game with 6.4 seconds left in the second overtime period to lift the Cougars to victory at Troy Athens High School.

Seniors Anna Pearson and Katie Mezwa each scored seven goals for Bloomfield Hills Sacred Heart. Pearson’s sixth goal of the game with 8.1 seconds left in the second half sent the game into overtime tied at 15. Her seventh goal tied the game at 16 1:02 into the second overtime.

Head coach Debbie Pavle said she couldn’t have asked any more of her team.

“This was a state championship game. It could have went either way and it came down to the end and who had the ball last,” said Pavle. “My girls were amazing. They had a great season and they should be proud of themselves. They played well as a team and I couldn’t have asked any more of them.”

Early on, it appeared as if the Gazelles would be fortunate to take the game to overtime. The Cougars’ Toni Nienhause and Gazelles’ Pearson traded goals. The Cougars dominated the next four minutes of the game, buzzing around the Gazelles’ net, firing shots, getting rebounds, and firing more shots.

Megan Wilson and Braun scored to give the Cougars a 3-1 lead. The Gazelles survived the early onslaught, thanks in part to the terrific goaltending of Mei-Mei Butcher. Pearson broke up a play in her own end and sprinted up the field, passing to Isabella Yzerman, who dished to Mezwa in front of the goal. Mezwa completed the neat passing play.

The Cougars made it 4-2 with a goal by Haley Brennan. The Gazelles evened the score with goal by Yzerman, who sprinted 50 yards before scoring from seven yards out, and a tally by Pearson, who completed the tic-tac-toe play with Elle DelGrosso and Mezwa.

With the game tied at 4, the two teams dug in for the battle. Neither team could gain more than a one-goal advantage. With the score 5-4,, Meswa tied it, burying a goal after two fake shots from in tight. Down 6-5, Yzerman looped around the net and scored from nine yards out.

The Gazelles took the lead for the first time when Meswa’s hard shot squeaked through goalie Sophie Vachon. Now it was Grand Rapids Catholic Central’s turn to play catch-up.

Meswa scored with 1:40 left in the half to give the Gazelle’s an 8-7 lead at the break.

The Cougars emerged from the break with renewed energy, getting goals from Brennan and Braun to take the lead. But Sacred Heart replied with two goals from Pearson to regain the advantage, 10-9.  On the first goal, Pearson won the ball off a faceoff and sprinted down the left wing and ripped it home. On the second, she won a loose ball, sprinted up the middle, cut left,  and caught the goalie moving the wrong way.

After the Cougars tied it, Mezwa put the Gazelles out front again with a hard shot that found its way through the goalie's legs. But once again, the Cougars tied it. Sacred Heart regained the lead when Meswa forced a turnover and sent Pearson in on goal. Pearson was tripped and scored on the penalty shot.

Meswa twice answered Cougars’ goals with goals of her own to give Sacred Heart a 14-13 lead with 7:40 to play.

The teams tightened defensively as the game moved toward the end of regulation. With 4:41 to play, Wilson scored for the Cougars to tie it.

The Gazelles spent most of the next four minutes circling around the Cougars' net but a goal proved elusive. With 23.5 seconds left, Braun brought the Grand Rapids fans from their seats with a goal from about eight yards out.

With time running out on the Gazelles season, Sacred Heart won control of the faceoff. Pearson went sprinting up the middle and was taken down trying to bust through four Cougars on the way to the goal. She was awarded a penalty shot with 8.1 seconds left and she made no mistake, bouncing a shot past the goalie to tie the game before she was mobbed by teammates.

Pearson described the moment.

“I didn’t really feel anything. ... I knew it was either I would score, or I wouldn’t, and that was it, so I just relaxed,” Pearson said. “When it went in, it was unbelievable. It was an amazing moment.”

The goal sent the game into two three-minute overtime periods. The Cougars scored early in the first overtime with a goal from Megan Farrell, to take a 16-15 lead. Butcher kept the Gazelles in it with two great saves on Braun in the first overtime period.

Sacred Heart tied the game at 16 with another goal by Parson at the 1:02 mark of the second overtime.

Coach Pavle said praised the star senior.

“Anna is an amazing player — one of the top players on the team, if not the top player. She’s an all-around player and she is one of those girls that you want the ball in her stick, for obvious reasons,” Pavle said.

The Cougars had several chances to score the next goal but were thwarted. The Cougars turned the play up field and spent the final 40 seconds running the ball around Sacred Heart’s goal. With Pearson on the sidelines after a yellow card, Braun scored with 6.4 seconds left to win it for Grand Rapids Catholic Central.

“It was a great season. We came a long way. Our goal was to get to the state finals and win. We didn’t quite get there, but we still had a great season,” Pearson said.

The Gazelles beat Troy Athens, Rochester, Cranbrook-Kingswood and Flint Powers Catholic to get to the championship game.