On a beautiful Wednesday afternoon, the girls’ lacrosse team dispatched Staten Island Academy, 13-7, to return to the PSAA Championship for a second straight year. It was the third straight semifinal match-up between the two squads, with the Bears coming out on top in the last two.

The action began immediately as the Tigers fired a shot on the crease just 20 seconds in. In what became one of the key subplots of the afternoon, senior captain Emily Berger was there to deny the attempt and keep Staten Island off the board. Instead, the Bears drew first blood as Sophia Dabbraccio ripped the net at the 22:13 mark. The islanders tied it up two minutes later, but The Brook answered with three straight to grab the early momentum and a lead they never relinquished. Natalia Pagano scored the first two goals of the spurt before Sera Prinz tucked home a rebound to give the Bears a 4-1 edge at the 11:58 mark.

Staten Island tucked away a score with 8:40 left, but Prinz added another score two minutes later to prompt a Tiger timeout. The stoppage did little to cool off the Bears as they netted the next three goals on shots from Sydneyanna Giardini, Prinz, and Pagano to build an 8-2 margin with 1:14 remaining. The Tigers scored 11 seconds later off of a draw control, but the Blue & White took a commanding 8-3 lead into the break. The score would have been closer had the Tigers not hit the pipe twice and been denied three times on the doorstep by Berger.

The Tigers showed their resolve by scoring the first two goals of the second half to pull within 5-8. Puopolo and the Tigers traded scores to leave The Brook ahead 9-6 lead before three straight goals all but put the game away for the hosts. Dabbraccio opened the run with a score, Mia Trama followed with a free position strike, and Giardini added a third, courtesy of a pass from Pagano, to equal their largest lead of the game with 5:05 left. Mack Vesey hit the top right corner with 43 seconds to end the Bears’ scoring, and Berger added a pair of free position saves in the dying moments to cap a sensational performance in her final game on Fitch Field.

The Bears move on to the PSAA Championship this afternoon vs. Long Island Lutheran at Cantiague Park in Hicksville.

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