By Nick Cammuso
FAIRMONT — The moment was near, one West Fairmont dreamed about since forming a girls’ lacrosse program.
Four years of learning from stratch, four years of people questioning whether the sport had a prayer of sticking ... to mere seconds from making history Saturday afternoon.
“I almost stopped playing. I was too busy watching the clock,” Morgan Cain said.
Then, finally, the East-West Stadium scoreboard hit four zeros. The waiting was over. The hard work fulfilled. The Polar Bears were state champs with a 12-10 overtime victory against University.
They did more than cap a 10-7-1 season on this day. They won the girls’ first state title game in the burgeoning, yet still-to-be sanctioned sport.
Moments after the team embraced at midfield and clutched, even kissed, the championship trophy, West players couldn’t fully come to grips to the win meant to them — and perhaps, for the future of high school lacrosse in West Virginia.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing. It’s unbelievable,” Michelle Wilson said.
“I’m overwhelmed. I’m shaking, I’m so happy,” Cain said.
“I don’t even know the words to describe it,” Hannah Nagowski said.
Nagowski may have a point. Really, how does one put a finger on a game with six ties and seven lead changes?
But it’s exactly how Polar Bears’ coach Jon Cain imagined the third game with the Hawks would play out. University topped West in the season’s first meeting and dropped the next on a last-second goal from Wilson.
Seemingly everytime the Polar Bears found the net Saturday, the Hawks answered. They wiped away a 4-3 halftime lead 40 seconds after the break, and evened the score again with 1:59 left on Jenna Hughes’ sixth goal, her fifth of the second half.
Hughes, however, failed to connect on a probable game-winner with time ticking away.
With around 20 seconds to go in regulation, University gained possession deep in their own zone. Hughes eventually grabbed the ball before reaching midfield, then made a mad rush for the goal, but the Polar Bears’ defense got back quickly and forced her to stop and make a pass. As a result, University wasn’t able to get off a clean shot before time ran out.
“(Assistant coach Melissa) Nagowski was saying, ‘She’s going to score; she’s going to score,’” Cain laughed. “But what helped us is (Hughes) slowed up. She didn’t make her run at the goal and was forced to get rid of it.
“Had she kept going, I think she would’ve got a shot off and who knows what would’ve happened then.”
What happened in the overtime, made up of separate three-minute periods, was all West.
Nagowski found Krissy Bodnovich open in the left crease 43 seconds into the extra session to make it 11-10. Bodnovich also scored earlier in the half.
“Krissy gave up two really important goals. We know who usually scores (for us), but if we get one or two more girls involved, it makes a big difference,” Jon Cain said.
The same could be said for Morgan Cain. While Hughes and Kristin Cole, who scored four times, accounted for all the Hawks’ offense, Cain took charge for the Polar Bears.
The junior finished with eight goals, including the first three for West, and more importantly, the final tally with 1:54 left for a two-score, overtime cushion.
In all, Cain scored 18 times in the series and finished the year with a state-best 89 goals.
“Somehow, out of all the chaos, Morgan is there,” Nagowski said. “If you get (the ball) to her, it’s probably going in the goal.”
Wilson added two goals for West, while Mackenzie Murdock assisted on five.
“I couldn’t do it without them,” Cain said of her teammates.
But can the Polar Bears do it again? It certainly seems plausible. The teams loses five players, namely Wilson and Murdock, but welcomes back its top scorer and plenty of other key pieces.
“We never thought in four years we’d be where we’re at,” Cain said, unable to break the smile from his face. “And we’ve got a strong team coming back. Hopefully, we’ll keep the momentum going.”
This was quite the start.
E-mail Nick Cammuso at ncammuso@timeswv.com.
