In a rematch of last year's Division II state semifinal, Mariemont High School's girls lacrosse team overcame an early deficit and led most of the game defeating Bishop Watterson 19-11.
At whistle's end, the Warriors danced with glee knowing their season would last for one more game.
Senior midfielder Delaine Oliveira led the Warriors with seven goals, six of those coming in the first half. Junior attack Piper George had six, and junior University of Cincinnati commit Caroline Soller had the hat trick. Junior mid Lucy Lysaght had a pair of goals and sophomore mid Cece Kuwatch found the net to round out the scoring.
"I didn't want today to be my last game, especially my last game as a senior," Oliveira said. "If I had the opportunity to score I was going to take it."
Coach Kevin Ferry's Warriors now defend their title Saturday morning in Columbus. That will be the final prep game for Mariemont's eight seniors.
"It's a thrill to play in a game like this," Ferry said. "Their team is a really talented team. It's super exciting to be back in the finals."
Zoe Coleman got Bishop Watterson out to an early 3-1 lead, but Mariemont stormed back taking the lead on a Soller goal less than 10 minutes into the game.
"Bishop came out of the gates hard," Ferry said. "They took it right to us. Not a whole lot of bounces went our way in the first couple of minutes. You have to learn how to play through adversity. We were fortunate to be led by a man named Graham Harden (former coach who battled ALS) who taught us how to deal with adversity. That's left its mark on our program."
Harden would be proud as Mariemont responded by extending the lead to as much as seven. At the break, the Warriors led 13-6 with Oliveira scoring as many as the Watterson team.
"We just came off a long bus ride and needed to get our head in the game," Oliveira said. "That's exactly what we did. We pushed through and it really helped our confidence going into the second half."
The Warriors might have been on the road home after in short order but lightning was detected at halftime and the second half didn't begin until after 7 p.m.
Both Coleman and Meg Newcomb had four goals for Bishop Watterson's Eagles. Newcomb's third of the second half pulled the Eagles within six at 16-11, but goals by George (2) and Soller iced the game with Mariemont winning by eight.
"We knew we had the talent and we knew we belonged here," Ferry said.
In 2021, Mariemont defeated Watterson 14-13 before taking down Rocky River in the state championship for their second state title. The Warriors also won in 2018 and were state runners-up in 2019.
Mariemont's lone loss came late in the regular season to Division I Olentangy Liberty 14-13. They had previously defeated Bishop Watterson 18-14 back on April 23.
Mariemont is now 19-1, while Watterson's Eagles finish 17-4. Their other losses were to Dublin Coffman and Springboro, both Division I programs.
Mariemont now plays Chagrin Falls at 10 a.m. Saturday in the Division II final at historic Crew Stadium in Columbus.
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