Girls lacrosse: York tops Downers Grove for first regional title

HOFFMAN ESTATES – Friday evening’s Hoffman Estates girls lacrosse sectional final between No. 1 seed York and No. 2 Downers Grove co-op had a feeling of familiarity as both squads played earlier in the season in West Suburban Silver play.

But it also has a common objective as well — to bring back home their first rectangular-sized sectional title plaque that included a return ticket to Garber Stadium for a supersectional match Tuesday.

However, that ran right into a weather forecast calling for potential heavy rains with possible lightning. That forced both game and host site officials to make a couple of changes that included only a one-minute break between periods, a five-minute abbreviated halftime plus a 10-minute head start on the original 6 p.m. start in an attempt to get the entire game in.

And for the top-seeded Dukes, who outlasted Downers 16-7 to bring back that championship and invite back to Elmhurst, they needed to withstand a pair of comeback attempts to gain their first Elite Eight bout next week with another WSC Silver team, Hinsdale Central.

The Red Devils (18-5) won 6-4 at the Sandberg sectional besting the host school (16-4).

“We knew we could do it today and we had an excellent performance by all of our girls,” York coach Ryan Walz said.

“We came out strong after the (lightning) delay and finished the job.”

York (16-2) gained early control as it stormed to a 3-0 lead thanks to scores from sophomore sisters Hayden and Bricelyn Daniel followed by a goal by second-year letter-winner midfielder Morgan Navarre at the 9:24 mark of the second.

Downers (13-7), however, provided a timely response starting with two goals from sophomore attacker Emma Enright in a 33-second span. Junior midfielder Ashley Poquette (team-high 4 goals) knotted the score at 3 apiece with 4:56 left until half.

The Dukes then countered with a pair of tallies in the final 1:50 of the quarter thanks to Navarre’s and Hayden Daniel’s second goal giving them a 5-3 lead at the break.

After Enright’s third score pulled Downers within 5-4, the school’s lightning detection system went off at the 6:27 mark of the third leading to a 30-minute delay until play resumed.

When it did, York gave itself some breathing room thanks to a pair of scores from another sophomore, midfielder Elizabeth Specht (3 goals), that went around the third of Navarre’s four goals that gave them an 8-5 edge with 10:14 left.

Downers could get no closer than 8-6 on Poquette’s third tally with 9:42 to go before the Dukes ran off 6 straight goals. That included three more from Hayden Daniels giving her four on the evening along with one from Navarre.

“We do have a lot of young people on the team (but) we have a lot of chemistry,” Navarre said just before racing to midfield to join her teammates hoisting the sectional plaque.

“I’m really happy for our seniors because it’s our first sectional title and we finally got it.”

https://www.dailyherald.com/20240524/article/girls-lacrosse-york-pulls-away-from-downers-grove-for-1st-sectional-crown/