CASTLE ROCK — “I just kind of flipped it up into the goal. . . . Hail Mary’d it, I guess!,” Elizabeth Datino explained of her goal that sent her team to the state title game.
It wasn’t quite viewed the same way by the other side, but nonetheless it counted.
Datino and her Heritage/Littleton teammates advanced 13-12 past Air Academy in a girls lacrosse semifinal thriller at Douglas County Stadium and will play in their first championship game Wednesday night against vaunted Cherry Creek at 7 p.m.
“We’re very excited, and these girls deserve every single last bit they’ve worked for this season,” said Gryphons coach Nikki Kucharski, who was on Cherry Creek’s first state championship team in 1999.
Heritage/Littleton (16-2) appeared to be in command against the undefeated Kadets with a three-goal lead with less than two minutes remaining.
But Air Academy (17-1) answered with three goals, two by junior Allie McLaughlin and one by Hayley Bernstein, that knotted the game at 12-12 with 34 seconds to play.
After winning the draw, Heritage/Littleton set up for a final regulation push. A loose ball scrum in front saw the ball trickle to Datino, who scooped a shot over the right shoulder of Kadets keeper Ashley Keller.
“It’s a huge letdown to give up a garbage goal at the end,” Air Academy coach Sean Harmon said. “That’s the way it goes.”
Heritage/Littleton 6 7 — 13
Air Academy 6 6 — 12
Goals — H/L: O. Annalora 4, Datino 3, Hosack 2, Renner, Brown, Salemo, Keogh; AA: Bernstein 6, McLaughlin 4, Reid, Olsen.
Assists — H/L: Salemo 2, O. Annalora, Keogh, H. Annalora; AA: McLaughlin 2.
Saves — H/L: Wallingford 7; AA: Keller 10.
Cherry Creek 18, Arapahoe 7
The Bruins (14-4), winners of the last two state titles and four of the past five, jumped on the Warriors quickly and never looked back.
Four goals to start the game by four different players not only proved how tough Cherry Creek is to beat, but showed off its depth as well.
“Maybe as a coach, I’m being a little hypercritical, but the wind and the weather definitely had something to do with that,” Cherry Creek coach Cayel Dwyer said. “Is it the best game that we’ve played? No. Did we play well? Yeah, we played well.”
The Bruins expanded on a 12-4 halftime lead and had the mercy rule (10-goal lead) in effect by the 16:11 mark of the second half.
Senior Lauren Johnson, who had to bolt to Legacy Stadium to run a leg of the Bruins’ 4×400 meter relay team right after the game, led all scorers with six goals, and McKenzie Brown had five.
“We weren’t expecting it; it’s more like we were wanting it,” Johnson said.
Arapahoe (13-5) kept the score reasonable in the first half and was within 8-4 with 4:14 to go, but the half ended the same way it began. Cherry Creek finished on a 4-0 run to open up an eight-goal margin.
“One of these days,” said Arapahoe coach Katie Peksa, about catching up to the Creek machine. “We played really well and did everything that we had been working on. We just couldn’t capitalize on the attack.”
Channing Ahbe led the Warriors with three goals, and Adison Rounds finished with three assists.
Arapahoe 4 3 — 7
Cherry Creek 12 6 — 18
Goals — CC: L. Johnson 6, Brown 5, Brentlinger 2, M. Johnson 2, Keppler 2, Welsh; A: Ahbe 3, MacCurdy, Spring, Gerhard, Birlson.
Assists — CC: Brown 2, L. Johnson 2, M. Johnson, Keppler, Taffet; A: Rounds 3.
Saves — A: Weidner 9; CC: Coyle 3.
Jon E. Yunt: 303-954-1354 or jyunt@denverpost.com
