Girls lacrosse: Ava Hamm's late scoring spurt lifts Wadsworth over Highland

WADSWORTH — Freshman Ava Hamm wasn't about to let the red-hot Wadsworth girls lacrosse team cool off despite temperatures in the 30s Monday night. Locked in a hotly-contested battle with rival Highland, Hamm scored her team's final three goals, including the game-winner with 11 seconds remaining, to lead the Grizzlies to a 12-11 Suburban League victory at Art Wright Memorial Stadium. Hamm took a feed from sophomore Jillian Jones to score her fifth goal and send Wadsworth (8-2, 3-0) to its eighth straight win. She previously tied the game at 10 off a restart with 1:58 remaining and gave the Grizzlies an 11-10 lead with 32 seconds later. "I'm feeling very excited and very proud," Hamm said. "I'm very proud of the team and the way we came together in the fourth quarter. "When I made the first one to tie it up, it really fueled us all. As we all started getting excited, I had to take a second to ground myself and, once I did that, everything started falling into place." Hamm deflected credit to Jones for her pass on the game-winning goal. "Me and Jill like to do stuff around the bottom (near the goal)," Hamm said. "She's a very good feeder and we work well together. I knew when she was going to drag, (the defense was) going to cut. It's really just lacrosse I.Q. You've got to know the field. "It was as much Jill as it was me." After Hamm gave Wadsworth the 11-10 lead, Highland responded with a never-say-die attitude. Senior Annie Barnett (3 goals, 4 assists) struck with 33 seconds left. Behind Barnett, the Hornets got three goals each from Karli Schneider and Vanessa Demming. After Wadsworth dominated much of the first half, building a 6-2 lead with 7:41 left in the second quarter before going into the intermission with a 7-5 advantage, Highland battled back to force a back-and-forth final 16:27 that saw ties at 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11. The Hornets took their first lead at 8-7 with 4:05 left in the third quarter on a goal from Kate Schneider off an assist by Barnett. Highland (5-4, 2-3) is 3-2 in its last five games. "It's a little bit of a bummer," Barnett said. "It would have been great to win. I'm really proud of how we did as a team. We were down three at the beginning of the first quarter, and we really brought it together. "Sometimes it just doesn't work out." It didn't work out because Hamm delivered when her team needed someone to step up in a big moment. "Especially as a freshman, she did so awesome," Wadsworth junior Ashley Fleck said. "I'm so proud of her." Fleck tied Hamm with a game-high five goals and dominated early, scoring two goals in the opening two minutes as the Grizzlies built a 3-0 lead. Fleck's first came on a restart, while the second was off a pass from junior Peyton Deemer (3 assists). While offense dominated late — the teams combined for five goals in the final 2:48 — both goalies stood tall for most of the evening. Wadsworth senior Addy Cyrus made 12 saves, including four off restarts from the circle, to surpass 500 in her career. "Our defense really just stepped up in the right moments," Fleck said. "Our draw crew did an amazing job. Everyone worked together and finally came together in the end." Highland junior Lillian Pepera made eight saves, including two off restarts. After Fleck's fourth goal gave the Grizzlies a 6-2 lead less than five minutes into the second quarter, Highland responded to score six of the next seven goals. Karli Schneider and Demming each scored twice before Kate Schneider gave her team the 8-7 lead. The Hornets grabbed the lead two more times, but Wadsworth refused to fade. Contact John Urchek at jurchek@medina-gazette.com.