By Michael Horan | Special to The Michigan Catholic

Pontiac -- Going down by three goals early in the first half, Marian had Sacred Heart just where they wanted them.

“I know we tend to (start slow),” Ginny Heth, Marian head coach said. “I knew there was a possibility when we got one goal that we were going to be okay and it just takes them a little bit of time to get themselves settled. We’ve been down five and we come back, I don’t like it that way, but it seems to go that way.”

Marian responded just as their coach predicted. The Mustangs had five different players score  goals to go up 5-3.

“It was great,” Kelsey Summers, senior goalkeeper, said. “They (Sacred Heart) were pretty confident and we just came out here and did what we had to do and I think we executed really well.”

Marian was able to get a goal right before the half from senior attacker Holly Frederick, putting them up 6-4.

“I showed them some things I thought they should do,” Heth said of her halftime speech. “I didn’t say as much because we’ve worked so hard so there’s not that much I can say if I haven’t done before, so I show them things that I think they can do with their sticks and how they can beat their players out.”

Again their coach was right. Out of the half, Marian went on another streak of six consecutive goals to put Sacred Heart's hopes of a comeback to rest as the Mustangs went on to a 14-7 victory for their fourth consecutive Div. I Catholic League Championship.

“I have no idea where the runs came from,” Heth said. “We just have wonderful athletes over at Marian.”

Sacred Heart started the game on fire, with junior attacker Bella Yzerman scoring twice and senior attacker Katie Mezwa adding another, putting the Gazelles up 3-0.

Marian began their comeback with a goal from senior attacker Alessandra Dietz with 13:19 remaining in the first half. From there junior midfielder Antonia Violante, senior midfielder Kathleen Bergmann, Frederick, and sophomore attacker Courtney Hellyear each scored goals for the Mustangs putting them up 5-3.

“It’s always nice, getting goals,” Heth said. “We’ve been such a rivalry for so many years, it’s nice to see when one goes in. It’s nice to see different players getting those goals. Any goal to me is so fun to see and we’re moving on.”

Sacred Heart responded with goals from senior midfielder Anna Pearson and senior attacker Katie Mezwa to tie the score 5-5, before Frederick scored with :27 seconds left to end the half 6-5.

At the beginning of the second half, Marian began to pull away with three goals within three minutes from Violante, junior midfielder Megan Spagnuolo, and senior midfielder Janie Obee, respectively putting them up 9-5.

Spagnuolo added another with 19:14 left and Hellyear got her second of the day three minutes later. Obee scored once more with 12:46 remaining, before Sacred Heart's Mezwa broke the streak, scoring on a give-and-go play, to make the score 12-6.

Scared Heart had a chance to cut the lead again minutes later, but Summers came up with two key saves, ending the hopes of a comeback.

“It’s a huge confident boost playing in a championship game because now we’ve got that feeling,” Summers said, “and I think we can take that to States and hopefully use it.”

Spagnuolo ended the game with three goals and Violante, Obee, and Frederick each had two goals for Marian (8-4). Yzerman had two goals for Sacred Heart (9-4-1).