A Gatorade shower is reserved for championship wins. Once their state title dream was realized, the Bishop Chatard girls lacrosse team doused longtime coach Julie Jerrell with their own watered version on Saturday, May 30.
An 18-year odyssey was realized. The culmination of a 18-2 season was settled at the promised land. The Trojans had pulled out a 15-14 win over Guerin Catholic, securing their first state title in program history.
“I’ve never had a team that walked into a big game like this that was confident and willing to trust each other, and we felt that in warm-ups and they did it,” Jerrell said.
Bishop Chatard redeemed an April 14 regular-season loss to the Golden Eagles in the state championship game. The Trojans held an 11-2 advantage in the second quarter of the rematch before Guerin Catholic tied the score entering the fourth quarter.
Adversity struck when Guerin Catholic took a took a 14-13 lead with a few minutes left in the game. That was until junior Clara Nagal evened the score, and sophomore Addy Jahn played hero with a game-winning goal.
“I just think everybody, sort of, knew that was it — we had it,” Jerrell said. “She was clutch for us. She came through when we needed it, amazing.”
On a day when the Guerin Catholic defense stifled leading scorers Maggie Piatt and Clara Nagal in the final minutes of the game, the Trojans relied on their other midfielders — including Jahn — to get the job done in crunch time.
“They were taking away me and Clara Nagal’s drives a lot at the end,” Piatt said. “We both had full trust feeding it into the middle. I know it’s a scary thing to do when you’re down by one or in a tied game, but I felt fully confident to feed it to the middle to my teammates and they would always catch it and deliver and get a point on the board towards the end when it mattered most.”
The Trojans played with such fervor, such poise that they put their body on the line in a shootout. Ask Marissa Szentes, a senior midfielder, who suffered an orbital, nasal and check bone fracture during a draw with five minutes left in the fourth quarter.
Known as the “glue girl” of the team, Szentes said the injury was justified by the outcome.
“If it was going to happen in any game, this was the game to happen in,” Szentes said. “I do think it was worth it because I was able to lead my team to success … With my injury (and) being out, my teammates told me they pushed themselves harder for me.”
Nine Bishop Chatard seniors captained their boat towards gold with a supporting crew eager for a successful voyage.
This squad was deemed special early in the season. In the second game of the season, the Trojans suffered a 14-13 loss to Springboro, a prominent team from Ohio. Potential peeked through even through defeat.
“After that game, we knew had some significant talent and we could play fast and aggressive,” Jerrell said.
A month later, the Trojans dropped an 11-7 game to Guerin Catholic in the first meeting between the two teams. They went 7-of-27 on shots and didn’t play well, but they never quit. It was a turning point in their state championship season
“I think once we left that game, the team really realized, ‘Hey, we can play at this level’,” Jerrell said. “The coaches knew that but for them, it was a big turning point and their energy shifted, their competitiveness shifted and so those two games this season really started to show us what we were made of.”
As the season rolled on, it became clearer that the Trojans possessed the talent to compete with anyone. The Trojans topped Evansville Memorial in their postseason opener before they blew out Heritage Christian in the second round. Then they took out Zionsville in the state semifinals before they conquered Guerin Catholic in the state final.
Piatt, a Manhattan University commit, turned in MVP numbers for the state champs this season. She closed her senior season with the most points (147), goals (95) and assists (52) in the state. Aside from the numbers, she played with a championship heart — which defined the spirit of her teammates that surrounded her.
She was a piece of a championship team that played with a humble persona. A tight-knit group that trusted one another to get the job done. A squad governed by a positive spirit. That cohesiveness pushed them over the edge at state.
“We’re friends outside of lacrosse which made our chemistry on the field even better and I think that helped us get through every game,” Piatt said. “I thought the end of the game (at state) showed how much we trusted each other.”
Bishop Chatard has now occupied space in the state title stratosphere. This 2026 team has left a legacy for future teams to live up to.
“It was just the culmination of the team just working harder throughout the season and we got better and better,” Jerrell said. “To be able to say we’re state champs is pretty awesome, but for me coaching is so much more about the development, and I’ve always been okay with not winning one because of that.
“But to win was really cool, and to share it with them was amazing and that crowd was just awesome. Living on a high for that.”
Marc Ray is a high school sports reporter at the IndyStar. He can be reached at marc.ray@indystar.com , and on X, formerly Twitter, at @themarcszn.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Bishop Chatard girls lacrosse reached the state title mountaintop
Reporting by Marc Ray, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
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By Marc Ray, Indianapolis Star | USA TODAY Network
