Prep girls lacrosse: Summit wins nine of 10 games in shortened season

Published 9:35 pm Tuesday, May 25, 2021

The high school girls lacrosse season — long on practices and short on games — came to its conclusion this past weekend.

For Summit, the 2021 season was one the Storm coaches were looking forward to, as the team boasted nine seniors and several all-league-caliber players.

After capping off a 14-7 home win over Wilsonville on Saturday, Summit cemented itself as one of the top teams in the state.

“I would say it went as well as it could have gone,” first-year Summit coach Dan Radatti said about the season. “Our director did a wonderful job trying to pull together a schedule. A lot of teams had a restricted schedule. It was changing by the day it seemed like.

“I think we would solidly be in the top six or eight teams in the state,” Radatti added.

One thing was constant throughout the year — Summit winning. The Storm won nine of their 10 games, posting an undefeated record in the Central Oregon division of the Oregon Girls Lacrosse Association. Summit finished ahead of Bend (5-4), Sisters (5-5) and Redmond (0-7).

It was in limited games against teams outside of Central Oregon, where lacrosse is more prevalent, that the Storm were challenged. Of its six nonleague games, Summit had four wins, one loss and one tie.

Of those six games, four were decided by two goals or fewer, including highlight wins in the closing weeks of the season against Tualatin, a team Summit tied earlier, and Hood River Valley, which ousted the Storm from the playoffs in 2019.

Both games were decided by a single goal.

“I was proud of the girls for playing at that high level,” Radatti said. “This group learned that if you don’t play a perfect game, you keep going and it will pay off.”

Bend High finished second in the Central Oregon division. Because of the pandemic, the Lava Bears had fewer players in the program this year.

“COVID made some people decide the six-week season wasn’t worth it, and a few seniors didn’t want to play this year,” said Lava Bear coach Taylor Pomerenk. “Moral of the season was more about fun than winning games. They all wanted to win, but getting back on the field was the most important part.”

In order to replenish the pipeline of lacrosse players coming into the program, middle school athletes joined in the Bend High practices that took place throughout the past summer, fall and winter. Pomerenk said the goal was to make them feel like part of the program before they enter high school.

“It was cool for some of the leaders on the team to get to know them before they get into the program,” Pomerenk said of the middle-schoolers. “It will help them be more excited to play on the team because they have been introduced to us and the girls.”

After wrapping up the short 2021 season with the win over Wilsonville, Radatti said he was glad to see the sport of lacrosse continue to grow during the challenging year.

“I was really happy with how all the other teams were able to play this season,” Radatti said. “Nice local community, with Redmond, Sisters and Bend able to have teams during COVID times.”