Hartland entered the regional championship game having defeated Grand Blanc and Huron Valley the previous week. Hartland had to get prepared for their regional championship game against cross town rival Brighton. Hartland and Brighton met at Lake Orion High School to see who had the will to win. The game between these two teams is very exciting. They tend to bring out the best and sometimes the worse. Both teams exchanged goals early and often in the first half and then about midway through, Hartland started to control the game and opened up a four goal lead. Hartland’s Amy Longe and Ryan Skomial led Hartland in scoring and it appeared that all was right in the world. Brighton managed to score a goal late in the first half bringing Hartland’s lead to 8-5 going into half time. Both benches appeared to be focused as game tactics and adjustments were being discussed. Brighton needed to try and figure out how to win the draw. Skomial, a senior, dominated the first half by winning many of them. Hartland needed to work on slowing the Brighton transition on offense. The second half featured more scoring and tense moments. Amy Longe, a sophomore, who has come on as of late this season, led Hartland with six goals. Brighton was trailing by five goals at one point, but they continued to fight and claw their way back. With just over a minute to go in the game, Brighton scored to draw the score to 15-14 with Hartland leading. Hartland came away with the draw control and made a move to get the ball into the offensive end, but a flagrant foul was committed by Brighton’s Haley McLean which drew a yellow card. This was her 2nd yellow card of the contest and removed her from the rest of the game. Hartland then passed the ball around the field and Brighton continued to foul hard, forcing referee’s to hand out yellow cards and penalty minutes to be served. Hartland worked the ball around the field and then Hartland turned the ball over after taking a shot with 15 seconds left on the scoreboard. Brighton took possession and passed the ball down the field to an open attacker who took the ball and shot it past Hartland’s Goalie to tie the game. To add drama to the game, Hartland’s starter and senior goalie, Tabitha Ferguson sprained her ankle on the play. With that development, junior, Brooke Eicher was called into duty. With just under two seconds left and the score being tied, both teams entered overtime with excitement and disappointment. Overtime is split into two, three minute halves. Hartland came out and looked focused. Brighton looked very motivated, but they had to battle being down three players for the first few minutes due to flagrant fouls. Hartland controlled the overtime and Amy Longe scored two of her six goals in the overtime period. Stand in goalie, Brooke Eicher came up big making three saves to preserve the win for the lady Eagles. This was the fifth consecutive win over the Bulldogs and Hartland’s second consecutive regional championship. The lady Eagles will be taking on the Rockford Rams on Wednesday at 5pm. Hartland is hosting the Division 1 semi-finals this year, so Wednesday’s game is a home game. Rockford is ranked #1 and Hartland is ranked #2 in division one according to Laxpower.com. Come out to see some fantastic girl’s lacrosse on Wednesday night at 5pm. Bring your friends and family. The student section needs to be out of their mind cheering for this successful program. With the support from the community, we can hopefully help the team get to the State Finals for a second year in a row.
