The Mars Planets were not worried that it was the WPIAL championship game. Playing their best was all that mattered, and their best was more than good enough.
Mars scored the first seven goals and never looked back, as the top-seeded Planets brushed aside No. 3 Quaker Valley, 19-5, in the WPIAL 2A girls lacrosse championship game Thursday at Upper St. Clair High School.
“The game plan, we just wanted to start out electric with good momentum, keep the ball, and they did exactly that,” Mars coach Abby Latona said.
The first quarter was all Mars. Junior attack Katie Blake took charge early, evading defenders and making two quick goals look easy. Those goals and a third she added with 12 seconds left in the period were part of the 7-0 Mars first-quarter run the Planets used to break away from Quaker Valley.
“She had an incredible game,” Latona said. “I think one of the things that makes us so hard to scout is that every single one of our attackers and middies is a threat and can score and shoot. We want to keep it that way.”
Blake finished with a game-high five goals, all in the first half. Junior Lucy Balazs added four, including one in the first quarter when the game was close.
While the first quarter decided the game, Mars further exercised its command of the matchup by outscoring Quaker Valley 4-1, with two more Blake goals helping the Planets break into mercy rule territory by gaining an 11-1 advantage before halftime.
The Mars defense preserved the shutout until the 4:52 mark in the second quarter when senior Lucy Roig got the Quakers on the scoreboard.
“I got to coach her all the way through. I have never seen someone with so much heart and grit,” Quaker Valley coach Kristin Hric said. “She is an absolute competitor, and she wants to win. … We have a lot of heart on this team, but she’s heart and soul.”
Roig is a four-year starter and holds the WPIAL Class 2A all-time record for career goals scored, completing the regular season with 258 total. However, that goal she netted in the first quarter was the only one she managed in the championship loss.
“I think our game plan for any team that we play is to really just hone in on their best players and try to keep them to minimal shooting opportunities,” Latona said. “My defense plays team D, and that means that they can take out any one player.”
Quaker Valley’s offense struggled to get much possession on the opponent’s side of the field until the second half, with the mercy rule in effect for almost all of it. But once the Quakers did, they continued to get more and more possessions as the game continued.
“This team has so much grit; they just never give up,” Hric said. “I think we lost a lot of the 50/50 ground balls. There was a lot of three-possession shots that Mars was able to get and take advantage of, obviously. So, that set us back quite a bit. … But our team never gave up, we stayed in it the whole time.”
Sophomore Katharine Miller led the Quakers with two goals, both in the second half.
“She’s just a sophomore, so I’m so excited to see what we have from her the next few years,” Hric said. “She’s so aggressive, she just attacks the goal. She’s fearless. We love, we love Katharine.”
While Mars played stellar defense, the Planets were also incredible in the faceoff circle, which helped them quickly take over the game.
“We try not to underestimate anything. They’re a great team; they deserve to be here. They haven’t been here since 2018, so I really applaud their upperclassmen for leading them back here, and we just try not to ever underestimate anything,” Latona said. “We expected them to make some changes against us, but we knew if we won the draw, we would win the game.”
This championship victory was the fourth in a row for Mars and its fifth total, all of which the Planets won in the last six years. Only the Mars boys program’s 10 straight titles can surpass the recent success of the girls program.
“Hey, we’re paving our own way, but we’re proud of them, too,” Latona said.