Brighton looking for happier ending in fourth straight trip to girls lacrosse state final

BRIGHTON — Maybe facing a different opponent will result in a better outcome for Brighton in the Division 1 girls lacrosse state championship game.

The Bulldogs have been beaten by Rockford in the past three state finals, but will face first-time finalist Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern at 2 p.m. Saturday at Rockford for the Division 1 crown.

Brighton earned another trip to the championship game Wednesday with a 14-7 victory over Bloomfield Hills in the state semifinals.

“Honestly, we’re all so hungry for the win,” Brighton senior Abbey Burchfield said. “It’s so exciting to go for the third time again, and hopefully this year we’ll bring it home.

“It’s a lot different this year. We’re going in with just a blank slate. It’s going to be a fresh start.”

Brighton and Forest Hills Northern have never met for a state championship, but they are quite familiar with one another. They’ve met twice this season, with Northern winning both games.

Although Northern is new to this stage, the Huskies established themselves as the favorite after ending Rockford’s eight-year run as state champion with a 7-6 victory in the regional final. Northern reached the championship game with a 13-2 victory over Hartland in the other semifinal.

“They’ve always had mutual respect for our program, as well,” Brighton coach Ryan Skomial said. “We said at the beginning of the season, ‘We’ll see you at the end of the year.’ They’re a solid program, but I think our girls really have a good chance to compete.”

Brighton has four players who have lost in two state championship games in Burchfield, Ella Boose, Gabby Mainhardt and Amanda Granader. After vowing to one day write a happier ending, they get one final chance to earn the Bulldogs’ second state title. Brighton was the Division 1 champion in 2011.

“The seniors, especially, this being our third time, we’ve decided enough is enough,” Mainhardt said. “This is our year. The dogs are hungry. I think we’ve got a good shot this year, for sure.”

Brighton beat Bloomfield Hills in the state semifinal for the second year in a row, overcoming two first-half surges by the BlackHawks.

Goals by Boose and Mainhardt gave Brighton a quick 2-0 lead, but Bloomfield Hills responded with goals by Ilana Watson and Marlee Watson to tie the game with 20:03 left in the first half.

Brighton scored the next seven goals, taking a 9-2 lead when Georgia Gill scored her second straight goal with 5:24 remaining in the first half. Bloomfield Hills countered with three straight goals, cutting the lead to 9-5 with 21.1 seconds left.

Burchfield dashed the BlackHawks’ momentum by scoring with 10.1 seconds to go in the half.

Brighton broke open the game by scoring the first five goals of the second half, extending its lead to 14-5 on a goal by Granader with 20:45 to go.

“The momentum shift hurt,” Bloomfield Hills coach Christina Arens said. “It honestly had less to do with them. They’ve got great offensive firepower. We just kind of stopped taking care of the ball. It was more we were beating ourselves. Not to take anything away from their team; we beat ourselves in a few moments of the game not taking care of the ball the way we should have.”

The Bulldogs would not attempt a shot on goal in the final 20 minutes until getting a chance from free position with less than a minute left, playing an extended game of keep-away to kill the clock. Bloomfield Hills had less than 30 seconds of offensive zone time the rest of the way, getting the game’s final goal with 4:06 to go. The BlackHawks didn’t possess the ball again after that.

“It’s something we’ve worked on all season, just having more patience with the ball and cherishing a lead when we have it,” Skomial said. “It’s easy as a player, a former player and a coach even, to want to go to the goal when you have that lead. In these big games and playoff games, you have to protect it at any costs.”

Boose, Mainhardt and Granader had three goals each for Brighton, while Gill and Amaria Whitby each had two.

Bloomfield Hills lost for only the second time, the other being an 18-8 decision to Hartland. Arens looked at Wednesday’s outcome as progress after losing 16-2 and 18-5 to Brighton last season.

“We lost by way worse, so this was good,” she said. “We had a great core of 10 seniors that we’re definitely going to be missing next year. We’ve got a lot of young talent. A lot of our best players on the team are currently sophomores. We’re really looking forward to the future. They’ve got a lot of experience, and they’re not even upperclassmen yet. It was a great overall season. I can’t really complain about making it to the state semifinals.”

Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@gannett.com.  Follow him on Twitter @BillKhan.

This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Brighton beats Bloomfield Hills in state girls lacrosse semifinals