EAST LANSING — The Hartland girls lacrosse team may have lost some key performers from its Division 1 state runner-up team from 2025.
But coach Ryan Skomial knew the Eagles could fill the holes to put together another strong season.
And Hartland did just that.
The Eagles were among the final teams standing in Division 1 once again, getting to at least the state semifinals for a fifth consecutive season. Hartland fell short of making a return to the state championship game, suffering a 9-4 loss to Rockford in a semifinal at East Lansing High School on Wednesday, June 3.
“I think it was really special,” Skomial said of the season.”I was proud of last year’s team. We had a big senior class. We graduated a lot of girls and i think a lot of people might have wrote us off early in the season. We fluctuated a lot. We had games where we took East Grand Rapids into overtime and we lost. We had moments where we were so good and moments where it just didn’t connect.
“For them to keep digging through that and continue to come together as a family and then to make it back to this final four spot is something they should be endlessly proud of. Those girls, they figured it out and they kept going. For that, I think I’m extra proud of this team because they were a bit of an unconventional team. For them to make it here was so special.”
Amanda Norton had all four goals for Hartland (13-7) and had the program in a strong position at halftime. Her goal with 34.9 seconds remaining in the first half gave the Eagles a 3-2 lead at halftime.
Rockford (11-8) got things going in the latter stages of the third quarter, scoring three times in the final 4:42 to take a 5-3 advantage. Those were among a stretch of six unanswered goals for the Rams. Norton ended that stretch with her goal with 5:21 to play. Rockrod added a goal in the final minute to put the finishing touches on its state semifinal win.
“I think our attack just couldn’t connect,” Skomial said of the second half. “I think the defense did a phenomenal job. I think Claire (Pielack) did everything she could in that net. There are days when it clicks on attack and there are days when you might just have an off day and maybe your shots aren’t landing and maybe the defense is playing extra well. Rockford’s defense was great. The second half — once they started to get a run it’s hard to come back, especially when you’re already kind of in a shooting drought.”
Contact Brian Calloway at bcalloway@lsj.com. Follow him on X @brian_calloway.
This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Hartland girls lacrosse falls short in bid for title game return
Reporting by Brian Calloway, Lansing State Journal / Livingston Daily
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Brian Calloway, Lansing State Journal | USA TODAY Network
