Fab Four: Bruin Girls Win Fourth Straight State Title

The seniors on Broadneck’s girls lacrosse team are going out as four-time state champions. A trio of freshmen, though, stepped up in key moments to get them across the line.

Ceci Facciponti scored a pair of late-period goals, Molly Robison had eight saves, and Avery Katzen fired in the eventual game-winning goal as the Bruins withstood Urbana 10-9 on Thursday at Stevenson University, winning their fourth straight state title.

With the Urbana defense keying on go-to players Olivia Orso, Lily Trout and Sienna Miller, Katzen found herself in a one-on-one situation. She collected a pass, beat her mark, and rifled in the biggest goal of her life to give the Bruins a two-goal advantage with just under three minutes to play.

“We really needed a goal in that moment … I knew I had a perfect opportunity to take it to goal. I told myself that I needed to do it, so that’s what I did,” said Katzen, who scored only a handful of goals in 2024 but popped up in the biggest moment of the season. “I was a little nervous, but I had some adrenaline and that’s what helped me take it.”

Facciponti’s goals came on a pair of scramble drills.

In the first period, Savanna Libby backed up a shot out of play and, because the clock doesn’t stop in that scenario in girls lacrosse, she hustled to chase the ball down and flicked it to Facciponti, who stuffed it in the net with half a second remaining.

In the third, a double-team from Faith Everett and Nya Williams forced a turnover in the defensive zone, Charlotte Robertson recovered it and hit Facciponti in full stride. She weaved to her left, her off hand, and found an angle to put it in the net with 1.3 seconds left in the period.

“I just see the open space and I just take it, and if it doesn’t go in, it doesn’t go in,” Facciponti said. “But you never score if you don’t take those chances.”

It looked like Broadneck was going to run away with things early, as Lily Trout netted a hat trick inside the first four minutes, and the Bruins led 5-2 after one, courtesy of two late first-period goals.

But they didn’t score in the second period at all, and Urbana tied the game less than two minutes into the third period. Broadneck was second best in draw control all night, and when the Bruins did get possession, they had trouble figuring out Urbana’s defense in the attacking zone. Anytime a Bruins player had the ball in a dangerous position, they were harassed into retreat without getting a shot away. The shots they did get off were mostly routine saves.

A 5-2 lead turned into a nip-tuck game until the fourth quarter, when Olivia Orso scored and then drew the game’s first yellow-card foul on Urbana’s faceoff specialist. Orso scored from the ensuing free-position to set off a two-goal run that put Broadneck up three. Urbana wouldn’t get within one again.

“Eight meters was something that I struggled with in the season, and I just told myself I’m done missing these,” Orso said. “I looked at the goalie, and I just told myself, this has to go in.”

Sienna Miller scored twice for the Bruins, while Cayman Holmes had three assists.