An hour-long weather delay could not cool off Union Pines’ third quarter rally.

The Vikings shutout Croatan 5-0 in the third to fight back from a two-goal halftime deficit, and hang on to defeat the Cougars 14-13 in the 1A/2A/3A girls lacrosse eastern regional final.

The victory completes a season sweep of the defending state champions. Much like Croatan a year ago, Union Pines enters Saturday’s final against Bishop McGuinness as one of the state’s newest additions to the sport. The Vikings’ first season was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic. Now in year five, they’re 17-0 overall.

An early 3-1 advantage quickly pulled momentum to the home side. Lauren Hayden and Maddie Sutton answered back by sparking a Croatan run that gave the Cougars a 5-4 lead through one.

Hayden added a pair of assists to her four-goal effort in the first half. The senior connected with Malaya Kilgore and Crystina Canady to help inflate the Croatan lead to 8-6.

With 25 seconds left in the half, Hayden circled the net and gave the Cougars their largest lead of the night at 9-6.

Union Pines picked up confidence before the break thanks to an Ellie Powell goal with three seconds left on the first half clock.

Down 9-7 to start the third, Anna Gaab tried to dart a pass to Powell who was camped out in front of the net. Rather than picking up an assist, the freshman Gaab watched the ball sail into the net to pull back within one.

Powell pulled the Vikings even at 9-9 with a tally from free position. Janie Spicer followed with a dazzling finish to give Union Pines a lead that it would not relinquish.

Madelyn Telemeco connected with Addison Volitis for the Vikings’ fourth straight goal to open the second half. In the midst of Croatan’s ensuing timeout, the skies opened and the stadium’s storm siren erupted.

Out of the delay, Spicer picked up where she left off. The run inflated to 6-0 and gave Union Pines a 12-9 lead after three.

The Cougars made one final push in the fourth.

Sutton and Kilgore opened the period with a pair of goals to slash the deficit to one.

Powell and Hayden traded tallies to make it 13-12 with five minutes left on the clock. Union Pines was dominant at the face-off X in the second half and it paid dividends down the stretch.

The Vikings were able to melt three minutes off of the clock before Powell dropped a pass to Telemeco for a 14-12 lead.

In the final 30 seconds of the contest, Sutton found the back of the net to make things interesting but Powell one the face-off draw to seal the victory.

Union Pines will travel to Durham on Saturday morning to face Bishop McGuinness who defeated Community School of Davidson on Tuesday night.

Coverage from the 1A/2A/3A west regional final can be found HERE:

Source: highschoolot.com