Yesterday afternoon, on a perfect spring day on Fitch Field, the girls’ lacrosse team clinched a berth in their third straight PSAA Championship game with a 20-12 win over Staten Island Academy.

The game marked the Bears’ fifth consecutive semifinal appearance and their fourth straight against the Tigers, who have become a familiar postseason foe. The Blue & White fell short in the 2021 semis, but have now won three straight Final Four games against SIA, including a 14-7 win in 2022 and a 13-7 victory in 2023.

The Bears wasted no time in building a commanding lead yesterday, taking a 4-0 edge in the first six minutes behind goals from Ella Middlekauff and Mia Trama and a pair from Natalia Pagano. The Tigers broke through for a score at 5:39, but that’s all the Bear defense would allow in the opening 12 minutes. Ali Puopolo responded with a pair of goals just 14 seconds apart, and Middlekauff capped the frame with a score just 18 seconds later as The Brook carried a 7-1 edge into the second.

SIA netted a goal just 13 ticks into the second period, but a run of three goals extended the Bear lead. Mac Vesey scored a free position at 10:31 before Trama found the net off of a dodge just 16 seconds later. Sophia Dabbraccio scored her first when she cranked a lefty shot out of a spin move to give the Bears a 10-2 lead and prompt a timeout from the Tigers. Dabbraccio, Pagano, and Jocelyn McCrain added scores over the remaining minutes–McCrain’s with just 2.7 seconds left–as they took a 13-5 lead into the half.

Staten Island scored three of the first four goals in the second half, broken only by a Puopolo tally, But Dabbraccio, Sera Prinz, Puopolo, and Payton Martin scored the last four goals of the frame to give the Bears an 18-8 lead heading into the final 12.

In the fourth, Pagano and Martin added scores as the Bears wrapped up the commanding win to punch another championship ticket. They will face #2 Long Island Lutheran on Friday at 3:30pm at Cantiague Park in Hicksville.

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