Lone Peak girls lacrosse avenges loss to Bingham, powers into 6A championship
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- Lone Peak senior Mickelle Cook shoots a shot during the 6A semifinal game against Bingham at Dumke Field in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, May 23, 2023.
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- Lone Peak senior Maddie Potvin celebrates after scoring a goal during the 6A semifinal game against Bingham at Dumke Field in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, May 23, 2023.
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- Lone Peak defenders converge on a Bingham attacker during the 6A semifinal game at Dumke Field in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, May 23, 2023.
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- Lone Peak sophomore Eliza Agate prepares for the opening draw during the 6A semifinal game against Bingham at Dumke Field in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, May 23, 2023.
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- Lone Peak senior keeper Ellie Guller makes a save during the 6A semifinal game against Bingham at Dumke Field in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, May 23, 2023.
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- Lone Peak and Pleasant Grove players battle for the ball during the 6A semifinal game at Dumke Field in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, May 23, 2023.
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- Lone Peak and Pleasant Grove players battle for the ball during the 6A semifinal game at Dumke Field in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, May 23, 2023.
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- Lone Peak defenders prevent a Bingham attacker from getting through to the goal during the 6A semifinal game at Dumke Field in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, May 23, 2023.
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- Lone Peak senior Maddie Potvin runs the ball up the field during the 6A semifinal game against Bingham at Dumke Field in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, May 23, 2023.
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- Lone Peak senior Maddie Potvin shoots a shot during the 6A semifinal game against Bingham at Dumke Field in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, May 23, 2023.
The Lone Peak girls lacrosse team was riding high on a 13-game winning streak when it hosted Bingham on May 11 to close out the regular season.
Things did not go as planned for the Knights as the Miners knocked off Lone Peak, 15-13.
There is no doubt that Lone Peak hadn’t forgotten that result when the two teams met again at Dumke Field in Salt Lake City in the 6A semifinals on Tuesday.
“I feel like this last week we have been working our butts off since that last loss,” Knight senior Mickelle Cook said. “We wanted to show them we could play better than we did last time.”
No. 2-seeded Lone Peak certainly drove that point home with a spot in the state title game on the line, overpowering No. 6-seed Bingham on both ends of the field as the Knights rolled to the 19-9 win.
“We have said a couple of times that losing a week ago was a really tough loss but it really made them focus in a much more solid way,” Lone Peak head coach Wesley Lundell said. “We really honed in on just a few things during practice. Coming in today, we just told them that everything we’ve done this last week in practice, that’s what we do today. And I really think that we did that.”
After surrendering the first goal of the match, the Knights seized control by scoring three straight and never let the Miners even things up again.
“I definitely feel like we were nervous at the beginning,” Cook said. “But we showed that we can play as a team. It was really nice just being able to actually just focus on the team. as a whole. I feel like that’s what we did this game compared to the last game and that really helped us secure the win.”
A big key for Lone Peak during the first half when the game was in doubt was the performance of the Knight defenders and senior keeper Ellie Fuller.
“Ellie killed it today,” Cook said. “Seriously, she saved our butts. Watching the defense shut them down was so nice. Our defense played so well. They played as a team. You could hear them screaming the entire time and it was really fun to hear that as an attacker.”
Lundell said she loved the mentality her defense showed throughout the game.
“Ellie had great saves but when we gave up goals, we just forgot about it and moved on,” Lundell said. “When you remember, you keep making those mistakes. They did a good job of focusing on the next play.”
Bingham’s last gasp at rallying came midway through the first half when the Miners scored twice to get the deficit to 6-4. Lone Peak, however, answered with five straight goals and never looked back.
Leading the way offensively was Cook, who scored seven times. Knight senior Maddie Potvin added four goals as well.
With the win, Lone Peak now gets the chance to play for the 6A state title.
“We are so excited,” Cook said. “I’m excited for the team. We have all these seniors who have been through all of it together. We’ve been with each other since our freshmen year, so to go all the way would be so fun.”
Lundell said that in each of the last few years, she has seen the Knights be on the cusp of big things.
“The first year we were undefeated and then everything got shut down with COVID,” she said. “The next year was the divisions and we lost in the Division B championship. Last year we lost in the 6A semifinals. We’ve been right there every year. This year they’ve focused on getting to the state championship.”
Lone Peak will face No. 5-seed Mountain Ridge, who knocked off top-seeded Farmington, 12-7, in the other semifinal.
Cook said the key in the championship will be the same as it was in the semifinal: Teamwork.
“We’ve just got to play as a team again, really just play the same as we did today,” the Knight senior said. “We trusted everyone on the field. You didn’t see anyone stand out. Everyone took it when they had the shot. I feel like as we go into the next game, we just know that we need to pull our weight and depend on our other players.”
Lone Peak and Mountain Ridge will play in the championship game at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman on Thursday at 3 p.m.
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