After a wild 1-0 victory over their rival, the Pinkerton Astros, the field hockey team has punched their ticket to the final showdown, advancing to the NHIAA D1 State Championship this weekend.

“This is such a big deal for us,” said senior forward Allie Marsh. “We haven’t been to a championship since 2008, and I am so excited to have the opportunity to play one final game with this team. It is going to be a wild ride, but I know we can do it.”

Senior defender and team captain Chase Vanini said she was nervous before the Pinkerton game but was confident her teammates could pull it off.

“I believed in each and every one of the girls on the team,” Vanini said. “I knew we would win.”

Now these girls want to do it again and bring home the state title. Everyone from the seniors to the freshmen have been dreaming about getting a chance to play in the championship game, and they aren’t going to back down easily.

And none of this would have happened if it wasn’t for a late rally in Wed.’s game.

“When I woke up that day, I had such a good feeling that we were gonna win,” said sophomore midfielder Grace Chicko. “I knew that the whole team wanted it, and we played our hardest on the field. We left everything on that field, and we deserved to win.”

Wednesday’s night’s game was deadlocked at zero until senior forward Vanessa Magoon scored a backdoor goal to break the tie and put the Lancers up to 1-0 just two minutes and twenty-three seconds into the second half. The team hopes to go into the championship carrying this momentum.

“I went into the game feeling relaxed and confident and that’s how I knew,” said Marsh. “This team can do anything as long as we set our minds to it and I am so lucky to have the opportunity to play alongside such a talented group of girls.”