THE CHAMPIONSHIPS: The second Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Boys and Girls State Lacrosse championship final will be held Saturday, June 14, at Bank of Sun Prairie Stadium at Ashley Field in Sun Prairie, Wis. The girls’ championship game will begin at 1 p.m. with the boys’ title game to follow.
TICKETS INFORMATION: Ticket prices for the event are $11 for the session, which includes the boys and girls championship games. Children 2-years old and under are admitted for free. Tickets are to be purchased online on the WIAA website through GoFan, the WIAA ticketing partner, at: https://gofan.co/app/school/WIAAWI?activity=Lacrosse.
CHAMPIONSHIPS SCHEDULE AND PAIRINGS:
Girls Championship
Hudson (18-0) vs. Kettle Moraine/Badger (19-3) - 1 p.m.
Boys Championship
Waunakee (17-4) vs. Kettle Moraine/St. John’s NW Academies (17-1 ) - 3:15 p.m.*
*Following conclusion of girls’ championship game ceremony
LIVE STREAMED ON THE WEB: The lacrosse championship games will will be streamed live on the WIAA.TV portal of the NFHS Network on a consumer subscription basis. To purchase a $13.99 month subscription to the live programming, log-on to www.wiaa.tv or www.nfhsnetwork.com and click on the “Subscribe” graphic. Archived streams of the games will be available on demand on the NFHS Network 72 hours after the tournament without requirement of a subscription.
FACTS & FIGURES: There were 43 boys’ programs and 37 girls’ programs sponsoring lacrosse in its second season as a WIAA-sanctioned sport.
LAST YEAR-GIRLS: Kettle Moraine/Badger co-op captured the first-ever girls lacrosse championship by defeating University School of Milwaukee 17-15. With the scored tied at 10-10 at the 7:02 mark of the third quarter, the Lasers outscored the Wildcats 7-1 over next 14 minutes to take a 17-11 lead and hung on to win the title. The Wildcats outshot the Lasers 34-29 in the game while the Lasers recorded an 8-7 edge in ground balls. Charlotte Matson scored seven goals on eight shot attempts, and Addyson Greenspan scored four times on six shots to lead the Lasers. Ella Mautz and Josey Horter each chipped in with three goals. Kaitlyn Biehovde was credited with the victory in goal, making seven saves in 36 minutes of action. Mia Darr led all scorers with nine goals on a game-high 14 shots for the Wildcats. Leia Schaefer made four saves in goal and was charged with the loss.
LAST YEAR-BOYS: Middleton scored two goals in the final 1:27 of the game to capture a 7-6 win over Neenah in the first boys’ championship game. The Cardinals outshot the Rockets 34-21 in the game and had a 21-13 advantage in ground balls and controlled 11-of-17. James Grosspietsch and Troy Teff each scored a pair of goals to lead the Cardinals, and Gabe Passini contributed a goal on a game-high 12 shots and distributed two assists. Kyle Ballweg made six saves to earn the win in goal. Evan Hans led the Rockets offensively with a team-high three goals on six shots. Jack Romsos took the loss in goal despite making a game-high 18 saves.
THE GIRLS MATCH-UP: The Kettle Moraine/Badger co-op is the defending champion, qualifying for the first two State Tournaments. The Lasers are the champions of the Classic Eight Conference this spring. The Lasers’ received the #2 seed to start the Tournament Series and advanced through the University School of Milwaukee Sectional. Their path to the final included wins over Homestead (19-3), Muskego (10-8), Arrowhead (9-6) and last year’s runner-up and top-seeded University School of Milwaukee (10-7) in the sectional final. Hudson was the top seed on its side of the bracket. The Raiders have posted tournament victories over the Sun Prairie East/West co-op (22-0), Waunakee (21-5), the Verona/Mount Horeb co-op (20-2) and the Edgewood/Madison East/Madison La Follette/Madison Memorial/Madison West/Monona Grove co-op (22-6) in the sectional final. Hudson plays an independent schedule without a conference affiliation. The two teams squared off earlier in the season, which was won by the Raiders, 10-4.
THE BOYS MATCH-UP: Both Kettle Moraine/St. John’s NW Academies and Waunakee are first-time participants in the championship game. Kettle Moraine/St. John’s NW Academies was the top seed in their half of the Tournament Series bracket. The Lasers posted wins over Muskego (26-3), the Waukesha West/North/South co-op (16-3), Homestead (20-7) and then edged second-seeded Mukwonago/East Troy/Greenfield/New Berlin Eisenhower/ New Berlin West (9-8) in the sectional final hosted by the Lasers to advance to the championship game. They finished atop the Classic Eight Conference standings this season. Waunakee was the champion of the Large Division of the Badger Conference during the regular season. They were issued the #1 seed in their sectional. The proceeded to defeat the La Crosse Central/Aquinas/Holmen/La Crosse Logan/Luther/ Onalaska/West Salem co-op (17-1), the Appleton East/Appleton North/Appleton West/Fox Valley Lutheran/Hortonville/Ripon/Waupaca/Wild Rose/Xavier co-op (8-5), last year’s runner-up Neenah (8-7) and then Edgewood/Madison East/Madison La Follette/Madison Memorial/Madison West/Monona Grove (8-5) in the sectional final hosted by Warriors. In their previous meeting this season, the Lasers won the match-up 9-7.
NEED THE QUALIFIERS?: The rosters and available statistical information of qualifying teams are available on the restricted media area of the WIAA website.
NEED RESULTS?: The quickest way to get results will be to access the boys or girls lacrosse content on the State Tourney Central page or the respective sports’ tournament homepages on the WIAA website at: https://www.wiaawi.org/Sports/Spring/Boys-Lacrosse/Tournament or https://www.wiaawi.org/Sports/Spring/Girls-Lacrosse/Tournament and choose the results links.
OFFICIAL BALL: Cascade Maverik is the official supplier of the Velocity lacrosse balls for the 2024-25 WIAA State Tournaments.