For the first time all season, Bear River found itself playing meaningful lacrosse in the fourth quarter on Thursday.
And to its credit, despite never once being required to execute in nervy moments during its previous 21 wins this season, when poise became necessary late in the 4A state championship, Bear River responded.
The top-seeded Bears held off a late push from shorthanded Waterford for the tense 8-6 victory at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman to clinch its fourth straight 4A state championship.
“We just trusted each other. We spent all season working together, hanging out with each other and just the trust that we had and we knew it, and that confidence I think got us a long ways in this game,” said Shelby Wilkinson.
Bear River led 6-1 in the second quarter but Waterford came storming back, making it a one-goal game with only 2:15 remaining on a Whitney Spanos goal.
The underdog Ravens even on the ensuing draw, but after a timeout, Bear River goalie Brighton Wise’s presence in goal forced a high shot, with her defense gaining possession.
Wilkinson tacked on a goal in the empty net in the final minute to seal the win.
Wilkinson finished the day with a game-high four goals, giving her 83 on the season and 239 in her career. The senior’s been a part of all four Bear River state titles, and she said the camaraderie within the team helped it get through the tense moments for its 57th straight win.
Wise was the unsung hero for Bear River with clutch save after clutch save in the second half, finishing the game with seven saves. With the Bears’ double-digit average margin of victory this season, she’s never been forced to make important saves late in games, but she delivered.
“For her to put the time in and to really study her craft and get explosive and earn the spot and earn the right to do that, so huge. You could tell she’s done a lot of film work because she knew where those girls were going to shoot today,” said coach Jeremy Webb.
Wise watched from the sideline last year as the backup goalie but put in the work to be the anchor of the defense this season. During timeouts after her big saves, Wise could be seen pounding her chest to get everyone fired up.
“I am always high energy, I’m very intense. I need to keep myself high energy. I pride myself in being able to keep my team up, and how I do that is to scream and yell and pound my chest, showing everyone who I am,” she said.
That doesn’t mean she wasn’t nervous.
“There’s always nerves, but you’ve got to rise above it. If there weren’t nerves, there’d be no point in doing it,” said Wise.
Coach Webb said the teamed dedicated the win to the Call girls, Mollie and Brinlie, whose mother is battling brain cancer and their family is currently on a trip to Hawaii.
Mollie Call was fourth on the team in points this season with 67.
“We stuck strong, and we said, ‘Hey, you know what, let’s win one for her,’” said Webb.
With an average margin of victory of 17.2 goals this year, Bear River came in as the obvious favorite against No. 2 seed Waterford and early goals from Wilkinson and Jeanne Webb helped the Bears jump out to a 6-1 lead midway late in the second quarter.
Waterford pulled a goal back before halftime by Mia Chao to make it a 6-2 game, and then third quarter goals by Anne Howard and Grace Morris made it a 6-4 game.
“We played these guys last year, so we knew exactly what was coming. We knew about their defense and their offense,” said Waterford coach Megan Whittle.
“We also understood they hadn’t had a lot of competition all year, so we knew it was a great time for us to attack all of their weaknesses and do our best to execute our game plan. We came up short at the end, but I’m so proud of the effort that the girls had to fight like that.”
Even when Waterford went down a player because of a fourth yellow card, it kept fighting and was unfortunate not to add on a few more goals as Wise made difficult saves look routine.
Wilkinson pushed Bear River’s lead to 7-4 with a goal late in the third quarter, but Howard cut the deficit to 7-5 with 11:24 left in the game, and then Spanos made it a 7-6 game with 2:15 remaining.
Bear River made the key plays in those final minutes to prevail in a game that coach Webb always figured would be close.
“We knew this was gonna be a battle,” he said. “Honestly, I was surprised we jumped out on them like we did at the beginning, and then the second half, I made a couple decisions, maybe, if I had to do over, like maybe change.
“But you know what? The outcome is still the same. All that matters is not the stat, not the individual stats. It’s about getting that one stat at the end of the game, that 4-peat.”