High school boys lacrosse: “Playing for higher purpose,” Waterford rallies past Juan Diego for 4A title

Published: May 23, 2026, 12:26 p.m. MDT

Waterford poses for a photo with the jersey of teammate Steven Jardine (22), who passed away in a car accident last summer. after defeating Juan Diego 7-6 to win the 4A boys lacrosse championship at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman, on Saturday, May 23, 2026. Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News

James has been covering high school sports in Utah for the Deseret News for three decades.

Last June was a very difficult month emotionally for the Waterford community, and the boys lacrosse program in particular as teammate Steven Jardine died in a car accident and the newborn son of head coach Will Manny passed away shortly after birth.

Fast forward to this spring, and those tragedies bonded the Waterford together through every practice and every game, with Manny saying, “we had a higher purpose to play for.”

“And that wasn’t just individual, the team and in my situation, that was everybody together. We talked about it a lot,” said Manny.

Like every other game this season, Jardine was there in spirit with Waterford during Saturday morning’s 4A state championship game with Juan Diego as the team draped his No. 22 across a chair on the bench.

Just as the Ravens played for their fallen teammate throughout the season, he was at the forefront of their minds as they celebrated the dramatic 7-6 win over Juan Diego as the program won its first state championship since the UHSAA started sanctioning lacrosse in 2020.

Waterford senior Gavin Rurka scored the game-winning goal with 45 seconds remaining as his team outscored Juan Diego 4-1 in the fourth quarter to rally for the state title.

“We’ve been through so much adversity. We know we are playing for a higher purpose,” said Rurka. “Every pass we make, every time we catch, every time we get a dodge down, we’re thinking about they’re up there …. looking down at us. They’re on us, by, they’re by our side. And we’re not, we’re not playing for just us, there’s bigger reasons to play for.”

Steven Jardine’s parents, Jared and Claire were in attendance at Saturday’s championship, as was his little brother Everett.

Rurka said he could only imagine how much it meant to the Jardine family to see Waterford’s success on Saturday.

Juan Diego's Brandon Backman (12) shoots past Waterford's Alani Aho (0) during the second quarter of the 4A boys lacrosse championship game at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman, on Saturday, May 23, 2026. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News

Waterford plays Juan Diego in the 4A boys lacrosse championship game at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman, on Saturday, May 23, 2026. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News

Waterford's Max Mishurda (7) winds up a shot against Juan Diego during the third quarter the 4A boys lacrosse championship game at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman, on Saturday, May 23, 2026. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News

Waterford's Gavin Rurka (30) celebrates after scoring the eventual game winning goal during the fourth quarter of the 4A boys lacrosse championship game against Juan Diego at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman, on Saturday, May 23, 2026. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News

Waterford's Alani Aho (0) cuts a piece of the net after Waterford defeated Juan Diego 7-6 in the 4A boys lacrosse championship game at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman, on Saturday, May 23, 2026. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News

Waterford and Juan Diego met twice during region play, splitting the season series in two competitive games, which Manny figured would play out the same way.

The game actually unfolded with much more of a defensive tone that forced Waterford to ride the wave and stick with it when things were going great.

After Juan Diego jumped out fast with two goals in the first five minutes, Waterford responded with three straight goals, the third by Rurka at the 8:55 mark the second quarter for the 3-2 lead.

Over the next 22 minutes, Waterford went scoreless against Juan Diego’s stout defense.

The Soaring Eagle scored three straight goals to close the first half to build a 5-3 lead, and the score stayed the same after the scoreless third quarter.

Manny said his team created chances during that stretch, including moments where guys were open in the create but couldn’t can it.

“I just told them to stick with it. We gotta find what’s working. Because they were sloughing in a little bit more than they have in the previous games. But on offense you just gotta stick with it,” said Manny. “You gotta see how they’re playing us, and they’ve done that all year. And we found some slots, and we handled some tough passes to score some hard goals to win this game.”

The team mantra of BEE came to fruition on those tough goals, “Believe, Envision, Execute.”

Early in the fourth quarter, Kellen Kemper scored his 37^th goal of the season to cut Juan Diego’s lead to 5-4. Two minutes later at the 9:31 mark, Andrew Rurka scored the first of two fourth quarter goals to tie the game 5-5.

His second goal gave Waterford a brief lead at 6-5 as he slipped a shot just past the goalie in a very difficult angle with 3:26 remaining.

Manny credited his team for going inside and getting the offense going during that fourth quarter comeback.

Juan Diego, however, had its own response shortly after Andrew Rurka’s go-ahead goal.

With 2:23 remaining, Trey Nicolodemos received a pass from Westley Buck in the crease and buried it tying the game at 6-6. It a snapped a 26-minute scoring drought for the Soaring Eagle as Waterford’s defense locked things down when its offense couldn’t get going.

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“Coach Z did a great job game-planning this week, changing up our zone a little bit and matching their shape,” said Manny. “We said we wanted to hold them under eight, and we did that. So credit to everybody on our team. The face-off X, we caused some turnovers there. It’s a full team effort.”

Waterford’s willingness to go inside and make tough passes led to the game-winning goal by Gavin Rurka in the final minute as he received a pass from Max Mishurda and buried the winner.

“I wasn’t really thinking about the score, I wasn’t thinking we’re tied up or anything like that. I was just thinking, I’m on the crease, I have a shot, I’m gonna take it,” said Rurka, who said it was definitely the best goal he’s scored in high school.

“After that, man I just look at my crowd, everyone’s standing up. That’s when it really sits in, like we’re up by one. This game is in our hands,” he added.

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