Dublin Jerome and DeSales boys, Watterson girls win OHSAA lacrosse state semifinals

ASHLAND — Trailing 1-0 after one quarter, the Dublin Jerome boys lacrosse team went on a 16-3 run and defeated Cleveland St. Ignatius 16-7 to advance to their third consecutive state championship game.

Cincinnati St. Xavier beat Upper Arlington 8-7 in overtime in the other semifinal, and the winners will meet at 7 p.m. Saturday at Historic Crew Stadium.

“There was no panic,” coach Andy Asmo said. “It was senior leadership. Down 1-0, we’ve been here before, so we felt good where we were.”

Division I girls: Olentangy Liberty, Upper Arlington roll into state final

Carder Ungerott led a balanced attack for Jerome (21-1) with five goals. Kyle White had three goals and two assists, and Marek Tzagournis added two goals and four assists.

“For the people in the past who haven’t gotten it done, this is definitely our motivation for all the sacrifices that our family and friends have made,” White said.

Jerome goalie Cory Lorentzen came up with some big stops early and finished with 10 saves.

“Cory is a first-year starter,” Asmo said. “(He's) regional goalie of the year — cool, collected, a hockey kid. (He's) ready to go to war with these guys and they believe in him, so it’s big.”

Jerome also dominated the faceoff circle, with Seth Siddell winning 15 of 21 and adding a goal.

“I got in a comfortable spot in the faceoff X and it went my way today,” Siddell said. “This means the world. It means everything to me. This is a big part of my life.”

Mitch Rini led St. Ignatius (14-8) with three goals.

“The most important thing early on was to set the tempo of playing fast — the way we like to play — and dominating faceoffs,” Asmo said. “Our goalie made some big saves and we won almost every faceoff. Our seniors led us and so many young guys stepped up and made plays when needed. It was a great team effort, led by our seniors.”

Jerome beat St. Xavier 16-12 in a regular-season matchup on May 10.

The Celtics lost to UA 12-10 in the state final last season, while In 2021, the Jerome beat Upper Arlington 12-11 for the title.

Cincinnati St. Xavier 8, Upper Arlington 7 (OT)

SPRINGFIELD — Cincinnati St. Xavier boys lacrosse player D.J. Wojciechowski scored 1:20 into overtime, capping a tight state semifinal and ending the Golden Bears’ season at Wittenberg. The game was tied for 40:48 out of 49:20, and neither team ever led by more than a goal.

UA (20-3) won the opening faceoff in overtime, Chase Morgan shot wide from just in front of the goal and St. Xavier (18-5) maintained possession the rest of the way before Wojciechowski — one of four sophomores in the starting lineup and 15 on the roster, most of whom contribute — scored unassisted.

“We made uncharacteristic mistakes early that kept it tight and made some adjustments later, but we just didn’t execute at the end of the day,” Bears coach Kyle Olson said. “We had a lot of opportunities and one in overtime, but hats off to them. We have to look in the mirror on this one.”

Jack Caine’s three goals, the last of which gave Upper Arlington a 7-6 lead with 1:46 left in regulation, paced the Bears. Tommy Janowicz added a goal and three assists, and goalie Sam Old made five saves as UA fell short of making their third consecutive final.

Luke Sprong, another of St. Xavier’s 10th-graders, and Wojciechowski each scored twice for the Bombers, who also defeated the Bears 14-10 on April 1. Sophomore goalie Trent Yelton stopped nine shots.

“Our defense stood up big down there and made my life easier,” Wojciechowski said. “St. X-Upper Arlington is probably the greatest rivalry in Ohio for lacrosse. We see them in the summer all the time. We knew what we were in for.”

Olson lamented UA’s struggles against St. Xavier’s zone defense, which while equally effective bore little resemblance to the zone that gave UA problems in a 6-5 win over Hilliard Davidson in early May. The Bears corrected those issues in a 13-3 win over Davidson in the Region 3 final Thursday.

“It slowed us down,” Olson said. “(St. Xavier) runs a 3-3 while Davidson runs two down (low) with a diamond on top. We had some film on (St. Xavier); it’s the same thing they’ve run against us the last two years. It would have been nice to execute better.”

DeSales 11, Cincinnati Mariemont 6

The defending state champion Stallions won a boys Division II semifinal at Dayton Chaminade Julienne and will play Olmsted Falls in the title game at 1 p.m. Saturday at Historic Crew Stadium.

The Stallions (19-1) also knocked out Mariemont with a 14-8 win in a state semifinal last spring.

Evan Morgan’s goal 48 seconds into the second half gave Mariemont (16-5) its first lead at 5-4.

But after shutting out the Stallions in the third quarter, a Mariemont turnover deep in its own territory opened the floodgates. Ty Hampton scored to make it 5-all and just 48 seconds later, Jack Jordan gave the Stallions the lead for good.

Hampton had a hat trick for DeSales, while Blake Carawan and Jordan each scored twice.

—Shelby Dermer, Cincinnati Enquirer

Watterson 11, Cincinnati Indian Hill 10 (OT)

Watterson's Gigi Francati scored her game-high sixth goal with 56 seconds left in overtime to win a girls Division II semifinal at Chaminade Julienne.

The Eagles (18-3) will play Shaker Heights Hathaway Brown in the title game at 10 a.m. Saturday at Historic Crew Stadium.

Indian Hill (17-3) battled back from a pair of five-goal deficits in the second half thanks, in part, to the efforts of Lexi Larsen and Emily Eckert. Each recorded hat tricks Wednesday.

Jessi Robinson scored just 14 seconds into the game to give the Braves a 1-0 lead, but Watterson, led by Francati and Carly Henry, scored six of the next seven goals to take a 6-2 advantage into halftime.

Francati scored at the 23-minute mark of the second half to make it 7-2, a lead the Eagles would duplicate just over 10 minutes later when Sophia Monesi's goal off a rebound made it 10-5.

Watterson was held scoreless for the final 12:49 of regulation.

Each team had an overtime possession that came up empty. Off an Eagles' restart, the line opened up for a pass to Francati to score the game-winning goal.

—Shelby Dermer, Cincinnati Enquirer

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Jerome, DeSales boys and Watterson girls win lacrosse state semis