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Provo players celebrate a goal scored by Paige Berry during their 16-13 win over Judge Memorial on Tuesday. May 19, 2026

Brandon Gurney, Provo Daily Herald

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Provo's Courtney MacFarlane looks to unload a pass during her team's 16-13 win over Judge Memorial on Tuesday. May 19, 2026

Brandon Gurney, Provo Daily Herald

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Provo's Emma Martin looks for holes in Judge's defense during her team's 16-13 win on Tuesday. May 19, 2026

Brandon Gurney, Provo Daily Herald

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Provo's Emma Parke drives hard toward the goal during her team's semifinal win over Judge Memorial on Tuesday. May 19, 2026

Brandon Gurney, Provo Daily Herald

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Provo's Anna Jaussi works her way around a defender during semifinal action on Tuesday. May 19, 2026

Brandon Gurney, Provo Daily Herald

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Provo players celebrate their semifinal win over Judge Memorial on Tuesday. May 19, 2026

Brandon Gurney, Provo Daily Herald

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Provo's Anna Jaussi looks to score one of her four goals scored against Judge during semifinal action on Tuesday. May 19, 2026

Brandon Gurney, Provo Daily Herald

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The Provo girls lacrosse team didn’t necessarily save its best for last during Tuesday’s 16-13 semifinal win over Judge Memorial, although it certainly appeared that way to those in attendance.

Up just 12-11 entering the final 12 minutes of play, Provo poured it on, scoring three straight goals to open the final quarter to take a commanding 15-11 lead and thereby placing Judge in dire straits. Strong possessions coupled with fierce defensive pressure around the net on both ends of the field were key catalysts in providing the well-earned victory and a spot in the 4A state championship match.

“We knew from the beginning like one of the advantages that we have as a team is we can play really hard from start to end,” said Provo coach Megan Jensen. “We’ve seen Judge before and we knew that we were going to have to fight hard all the way to the end. I think the girls just came prepared knowing that we were just going to have to keep the energy up, fight harder each quarter, and they did it.”

Provo defeated Judge 16-8 back in late March, although Tuesday’s game proved necessarily more competitive throughout given the state semifinal circumstances.

The teams went back and forth throughout much of the first half before Judge surged ahead to take a 7-4 lead with just under two minutes remaining. But rather than enter the half with a lot of work to do, Jensen’s team flipped the switch, scored final final two goals of the half and took the momentum into the final 24 minutes of play.

“We knew that it was going to come down to possessions and it was going to come down to the draw, Jensen said of the close of the first half. “They’ve got really great draw taker and as you saw watching the game, it seemed like whoever got possession was going to score a goal, and so we knew that it was just going to come down to that fight and that we just needed to get more possessions … We needed to make sure to get that ball, and as soon as we figured that out, I felt like that was a big momentum shift when we could win that draw and get more possessions.”

Leading the way for Provo during a key second half surge was its leading point-scorer, Anna Jaussi, who scored three straight goals toward the end of the third quarter and played a big role throughout.

“I just got going and I felt like that really helped to get the whole team going,” Jaussi said. “Getting momentum really helps and we really had a lot of great momentum toward the end.”

Jaussi tallied four goals on the afternoon, a total that was matched by Ashlyn Moser with both Paige Berry and Emma Parke adding three goals a piece.

Key to Provo’s play was consistent pressure applied, particularly around and behind Judge’s goal, which turned into a bevy of second-chance goals.

“Our attack players know that possessions are super valuable, so we have to do everything that we can to get as many shots as we can every time we have the ball down there,” Jensen said. “If it doesn’t go in the first time, we’re going to have to get second, third third chances, which means that we have got to fight hard to get that ball back. Our girls do a really good job playing defense in our offense. We talk about that a lot, and we’ve got some really tough fighters down there on attack.”

As mentioned, the win vaults Provo into the championship match where it will take on 4-time defending state champion Bear River.

“It’s a huge honor to be in the finals no matter who we play against,” Jensen said. “But we are very excited for another chance at Bear River. They’re a great team, a great program … We’ve had our sights set on this final game from the beginning of the season, so I feel like it’s all kind of built up to this moment and I feel like whatever happens, we’re just super excited and super grateful. There’s only two teams still playing in 4A and we get to be one of those teams, so we’re just really happy and really grateful.”

Timpanogos left smiling

Bear River took it to Timpanogos in the other semifinal match of the day, taking a 20-1 win in a match where the four-time defending state champions dominated the course of play. But rather than hang their heads, the Timberwolves decided to have fun with it despite taking the lopsided loss.

“We decided that because this will be our last game that we were just going to give it our all and have as much fun as possible,” said Timpanogos coach Meghan Hallam. “So when we got that one goal at the end there, you saw the girls celebrate quite a bit. It was a lot of fun and we’re so grateful to have been able to advance this far this season.”

Timpanogos had a rough start to the season, according to Hallam, but was able to refocus, battle through and eventually play a game at Westminster College during the semifinal round that ultimately meant a lot to all involved.

“Doing this is huge for our program,” Hallam said. “We got here two years ago, and I know a lot of the sophomores then had a goal to make it back and they did it. So we made a lot of progress this year and we hope we can keep the momentum and continue improving like we have.”