Youth is served: Lone Peak girls lacrosse routs AF, wins Region 3 title
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- A member of the Lone Peak junior lacrosse team runs in front of Sarah Bartholomew during introductions before a Region 3 girls lacrosse match against American Fork on Thursday, May 2, 2024.
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- The Lone Peak girls lacrosse team poses with the Region 3 championship trophy after a 24-3 victory against American Fork on Thursday, May 2, 2024.
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- American Fork’s Claire Corbridge, left, and Lone Peak’s Emrie Peterson battle for the ball during a Region 3 girls lacrosse match on Thursday, May 2, 2024.
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- Lone Peak’s Aralyn Marriott, center, poses with her parents on senior night for the girls lacrosse team on Thursday, May 2, 2024.
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- Lone Peak girls lacrosse fans hold up a sign for goalie Ianna Baldwin during a Region 3 match against American Fork on Thursday, May 2, 2024.
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- The Lone Peak girls lacrosse team celebrates a 24-3 victory against American Fork that clinched the Region 3 championship on Thursday, May 2, 2024.
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- Lone Peak’s Naomi Thompson, 3, celebrates with goalie Ianna Baldwin after a 24-3 Region 3 victory against American Fork on Thursday, May 2, 2024.
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- Lone Peak’s Katrina Maddox, right, races down the field with Evelyn Adams of American Fork playing defense during a Region 3 girls lacrosse match on Thursday, May 2, 2024.
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- Lone Peak’s Sarah Bartholomew, 40, carries the ball against American Fork during a Region 3 girls lacrosse match on Thursday, May 2, 2024.
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- Lone Peak’s Sarah Bartholomew, 40, passes the ball to teammate Katrina Maddox during a Region 3 girls lacrosse match against American Fork on Thursday, May 2, 2024.
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- Lone Peak’s Sadie Neuenschwander, 6, prepares to take a shot against American Fork in a Region 3 girls lacrosse match on Thursday, May 2, 2024.
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- American Fork’s Claire Corbridge, 1, is introduced before a Region 3 girls lacrosse match against Lone Peak on Thursday, May 2, 2023.
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- American Fork’s Lilli Miller, 30, carries the ball while Lone Peak’s Maili Page plays defense during a Region 3 girls lacrosse match on Thursday, May 2, 2024.
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- American Fork’s Lilli Miller, left, and Lone Peak’s Emrie Peterson prepare for the draw during a Region 3 girls lacrosse match on Thursday, May 2, 2024.
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- American Fork’s Lilli Miller, left, and Lone Peak’s Emrie Peterson battle for the ball during a draw at a Region 3 girls lacrosse match on Thursday, May 2, 2024.
Lone Peak girls lacrosse honored the present and future of its program on Thursday.
The Knights pounded American Fork 24-3 to clinch the Region 3 title and recognized its seven seniors on Senior Night.
Lone Peak also invited the members of its junior lacrosse program to witness what their future could be. The young athletes (ages 11 to 14) stood on the sidelines and joined the Knights in warmups, celebrations for goals and accepting the region championship trophy.
“It’s really cool because it just brought back memories,” said senior Katrina Maddox, who scored five goals. “I’ve been playing lacrosse since the second grade. It’s good to know the team will eventually go on without me and they can still carry on with such a good program. Some of those girls, I played with their older sisters who graduated. It was really fun and a lot louder on the sidelines tonight.”
The first year of UHSAA-sanctioned lacrosse was supposed to be 2020 but the pandemic cancelled all but a couple of matches. The Lone Peak seniors honored on Thursday were the first group to start and finish their careers with the Knights.
“A couple of other teams in the state do youth nights, and I always wanted to do that,” Lone Peak coach Wesley Lundell said. “The programs around here have finally growing big enough so that we can comfortably do it. Before, they combined American Fork, Lone Peak, Skyridge and Lehi all together. Now we’re all getting own programs going. One girl played tonight had three family members on the sidelines from the junior team. It’s fun to see them getting siblings, or cousins, or friends to play lacrosse. We wanted to see what it looks like to be part of a successful program. We wanted to them to see what their hard work now will end out playing out in a couple of years.”
The Knights, which won the Class 6A title last season, graduated 12 seniors from that team and enduring a rash of injuries to start the season.
“We’re on our sixth concussion,” Lundell said. “We had three starters out with concussions at the beginning of the season. And Sadie (leader scorer Sadie Neuenschwander) shattered her nose at the first practice. So we had to find out how to work together and figure out where they fit on the field. Then we got healthy again and had to figure it out all over again. But the girls are working and loving practice. Everything is really clicking.”
Lone Peak’s dominating victory against American Fork was the team’s seventh win in a row. Besides Maddox scoring five goals, six other players tallied multiple scores: Neuenschwander had four goals, Maya Siri scored three and Norah Lisonbee, Katie Hamilton, Lily Brown and Simone Winger all had two each.
The Knights led 5-0 after one quarter and Brown scored consecutive goals to key a 10-point second for a 15-1 lead at halftime.
“It’s really great seeing everything mesh together,” Maddox said. “This was really a whole new team to start the season and we’ve got it going at the right time. We’ve really opened our eyes to play as a team. Sometimes we get in our own heads and feel like ‘I have to have a good game’ when the team needs to have a good game. We’ve all gotten into a zone where everyone is playing together and passing to the open teammate. That makes the team all look good.”
Senior Lilli Miller scored all three goals for American Fork (1-14-1 overall, 0-10 Region 3).
Lone Peak (10-4, 9-1) finishes the regular season with two non-region matches against Corner Canyon (Saturday) and Bingham (Tuesday).
