Severe weather threatened Thursday's Division II girls lacrosse regional championship between Cincinnati Hills League-rivals Mariemont and Indian Hill.
Playing through a steady downpour and soggy turf at Kunsel Stadium, Mariemont added some rain of its own, scoring early and often en route to a 21-9 victory.
It's Mariemont's fourth consecutive Division II regional title, a streak that started after a 2017 regional final loss to Indian Hill. The Warriors now have a six-game win streak over the Braves since that loss.
Mariemont is now two victories away from its third state championship in the last four seasons.
"It's been a great year," Mariemont head coach Kevin Ferry said while holding the regional championship trophy. "You come off a state championship last year and we graduated a lot; we had a lot of seniors. I knew we had some talent coming back, but all of our young kids have stepped up and done a great job filling in some of those needs."
It was déjà vu for Mariemont, which won last year's regional title over Wyoming in a downpour along Wooster Pike.
"That seems to be a good mode for us," Ferry laughed.
Ferry hoped for a fast start after surrendering the ice-breaking goal in Mariemont's previous two tournament wins over Seven Hills (19-6) and Turpin (18-8) and his club delivered. Mariemont opened a one-sided first half with an 8-0 lead out of the gates, a spurt highlighted by three goals each from senior midfielder Delaine Oliveira and junior midfielder Caroline Soler and a pair of tallies from junior attacker Sarah Comer.
"We knew what we had to do since we had played Indian Hill," Oliveira said of the quick 8-0 lead. "We knew we had to hit them hard from the very beginning."
Oliveira tied a team-high with five goals, crossing the 100-goal plateau for her career.
"My mom knew I was close to that," Oliveira said. "For me to get 100, especially in my senior year, it made me really happy."
Ferry added: "She's a phenomenal athlete. She's very fast. She's a great leader and one of our team captains this year. She just consistently produces all over the field."
