Mayo's 7-goal burst leads Park City girls to 3rd-straight lacrosse title


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COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS — Marina Mayo is accustomed to big games, having played in four-straight girls lacrosse state finals in her career at Park City.

She saved her best for last, though.

Mayo scored seven goals, opening and closing the scoring for both teams, to lead the Miners to their third-straight Utah High School Lacrosse League Division I championship with a 16-7 victory over American Fork at Brighton High on Saturday afternoon.

“I definitely wanted to go out with a bang,” Mayo said. “This is my last time wearing this jersey, and I wanted to head off with a win.”

Bri Baumann added four goals and an assist for the Miners (14-2), who got goals from Ellie Faulk, Shaye Henderson, Lois Marlowe and Jeni Gordon.

Savannah Ernst led the Cavemen with three goals, Mallory Van Woerkom added two goals and Portia Card also had two goals.

Mayo scored four goals in the first half to lead the Miners to a 10-3 halftime advantage. The senior all-state honoree scored three goals in the first 12 minutes, including hitting the mark from the draw, to jump out to a 4-0 lead.

The Cavemen pulled within 5-3 on Van Woerkom’s goal with eight minutes remaining. But the Miners ended the half on a 5-0 run to take back control.

“I’ve played in a state championship all four years in high school and this one was fantastic in my senior season,” said Mayo, who will play next season at Fresno State. “It was my team doing all this today, and I couldn’t be more thankful to be their teammate today.”

American Fork opened the second half with three-straight goals, pulling within 10-6 on Ernst’s second goal of the game with just under 20 minutes remaining.

But Mayo scored a goal a minute later, Baumann netted another off the bone with 15 minutes remaining, and the Miners cruised the rest of the way in the senior class’ fourth state title game.

“Throughout the whole season, our settled attack has been more ‘chill,’ as we say,” said Baumann, who told her team to "chill" after the three-goal outburst from American Fork. “We took care of the ball, and it worked the rest of the way. It was helpful.”

The Miners felt no pressure despite the high stakes of the game, joking and laughing before, during and after the game. That loose mentality starts at the top with Mayo and trickles down to the underclassmen like Baumann and freshman goalkeeper Courtney Kaufman.

“As we approached the field today, this is blown up big as a state championship — but none of our girls were nervous,” Park City coach Kassandra Lemons said. “They realize this is the same sport we play every day, and it’s the same team they play with every day.

“It’s really exciting and speaks to their commitment to the sport and each other.”

Park City ends the season with wins in 11 of its final 12 games, including a nine-game winning streak. But don’t talk about dynasty for the three-peat Miners.

Their last loss was to American Fork, an 8-7 defeat on March 25 at American Fork. Mayo knew that she couldn’t let her team take the Cavemen lightly, or risk another similar result.

“Coming in, we knew we couldn’t be too confident in this game,” Mayo said. “We knew if we didn’t change our game plan, they might get the same result.”

Mayo will be tough to replace, Lemons admitted. But the rebuild won’t be as drastic after the Miners had to replace 11 seniors from last year’s title-winning squad.

“Each year is a new year; last year, we lost 11 varsity players, and people really underestimated us,” Lemons said. “It means a lot that the young guns stepped up.

“We joke a lot that we play a lot of basketball, eat pizza and don’t take the sport too seriously. That sets us up for success."

In the girls Division II final, Juan Diego held off Roy 10-8.

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