The Long Island Sound Claim Inaugural UWLX Championship

Baltimore - On Sunday, the United Women’s Lacrosse League concluded its inaugural season with its championship final taking place on the campus of John Hopkins University. The contest featured the best regular season team in the Long Island Sound taking on rivals, The Boston Storm for the first ever UWLX championship.

Prior to the finals, due to inclement weather, both teams were forced to play their semifinal matches early Sunday morning. The games were adjusted to have a running clock and 20-minute halves to allow for all three matches to be played. The Boston Storm advanced to the league final with a 10-3 victory over the Baltimore Ride. Kristin Igoe led the team with four goals and one assist on the offensive end, while Liz Hogan shutdown the Ride attack with a spectacular performance in goal. In the second semifinal, the Long Island Sound defeated the Philadelphia Force, 8-4, to advance into the championship. After going into the locker room tied at 4, the Sound defense did not let the Force break through, a 4-0 second half earned Long Island a chance at the first ever UWLX championship.

History Has Been Made

The Long Island Sound finished as regular season champs, while the Boston Storm ended their season one game out of first place. The two best teams in the league successfully made it to the finals but only one would walk away the first ever champion of the UWLX. The Sound started off the action when Hillary Fratzke put away the first goal of the match to give Long Island a 1-0 lead. However, Kayla Treanor propelled Boston on a 5-2 run to take control of the contest. At 5-3 with five minutes left in the first half, Long Island would storm back with three unanswered goals, two by Lindsay Scott, to put the Sound ahead 6-5 going into halftime.

In the second half, Long Island continued to work through the Boston defense and notched another three quick strikes to bring their lead to 9-5. Katrina Dowd was a huge spark in the 6-0 run to bring the Sound ahead but now the defense had to play its part. Unfortunately a resilient Boston team was not going to make it easy, and three consecutive goals by the Storm brought the contest to 9-8 late in the second half.

A few weeks ago Boston hosted Long Island and found themselves in a similar situation. Down 9-6 in the second half, Boston would score four unanswered goals to win that July contest 10-9. On Sunday, the Sound weathered the storm and did not let history repeat itself. Dowd notched the 10th goal for Long Island and the Sound defense would buckle down and shutdown Boston’s attack.

The Sound would go on to win 13-8, solidifying them as the best team in professional women’s lacrosse. All season, Long Island remained the number one team in the regular season, and head coach Shannon Smith knew the talent on her team could lead them to a championship. Once the final horn sounded, the joy and excitement to be apart of history was visible on all the players and coaches.

Devon Wills of the Sound was awarded the Most Valuable Player of the tournament and deservedly so, Wills made some clutch saves in both games on Sunday to solidify the wins for Long Island.

Congratulations Long Island on becoming the first professional women’s lacrosse champions and to all the team participating in the inaugural season of the United Women’s Lacrosse League.