Roughly 24 hours of extra wait hardly troubled the Woodstock Wasps when it came time to book a return to the VPA Division II girls lacrosse championship.
After the Wednesday date was pushed back to Thursday due to inclement weather, the top-seeded Wasps took advantage to take what coach Amanda Hull called a “mental focus break”.
“We do some breathing, get our focus back, and then get our energy pumped again, so we can sort of reboot the energy,” Hull said.
The break had a strong effect, as the Wasps scored the game’s first goal just 15 seconds in and never trailed, routing 4th seeded Harwood 17-4 to return to the program’s third state championship game in four years.
“We just kept fighting today,” Hull said. “They were gonna fight from the first whistle to the end and they did it.”
Woodstock scored five straight goals out of the gate, and led 7-1 after a quarter, 10-3 at halftime, and 12-4 entering the final quarter before another five unanswered goals closed the door.
Sophomore midfielder Betta Cirovic scored eight goals to lead the Wasp attack, including the game’s first three goals.
“She’s a strong player and she’s hungry,” Hull said. “It’s great to see her put the goals up. Obviously we like to see that, but we know that her energy and her focus and her grit helps bring up the energy on the team, too.”
Fellow sophomore Serea Beardsley added four goals of her own. Jocelyn Brauer scored all four of Harwood’s goals.
The young Highlanders, who didn’t roster a single senior, battled well in the heat but struggled in transition and couldn’t beat Woodstock keeper Jessica Baumann on several key occasions, including several dangerous free positions. Woodstock eased away in the fourth quarter by turning defense into offense with quick-break goals.
Now, attention heads northward for a bout at Virtue Field in Burlington with a very familiar foe. The second-seeded U-32 Raiders await in the final for the third time in four years, having beaten these Wasps in both prior matchups. The Raiders won 8-4 in 2023 and 13-10 in 2024, but records indicate this could be a different result. As opposed to 2023 and 2024, where the Wasps entered the final after downing top seeded Hartford, the Wasps are the top seed, having only lost to Division I Burr and Burton and even securing a 20-10 win over these Raiders.
“These girls have wanted to get back and win that championship. But I think that, for us, we’re thinking about it as, this is a no pressure thing,” Hull said. “We didn’t win a championship last year. We didn’t have an undefeated season. We just want to play our best and we’re pumped that we got to the championship.”
Game time is set for 3 p.m. on Sunday in Burlington.
