4A Girls Lacrosse: Gardner’s Buzzer-Beater Lifts Evergreen to 11-10 Win Over Mead in 4A State Title Game

DENVER – In the last year-plus, the team with the final possession between the Evergreen and Mead girls lacrosse teams always comes out on top.

The Mavericks had the honors in the semifinals of last season’s Class 4A state playoffs and again earlier this regular season, but the Cougars had the ball last when they met for the state championship Friday evening at Peter Barton Stadium, on the campus of the University of Denver.

The ball was cradled in sophomore Ryn Gardner’s stick with three seconds remaining and she buried a shot as time expired to give Evergreen a thrilling 11-10 victory and land the program’s first state title since 2021 and second all-time.

“That was an amazing game that came down to the final seconds and I couldn’t prouder of my team; that was incredible,” Evergreen coach Rachel Sanford said. “You don’t often see a buzzer-beater in lacrosse, but I’m so happy with how it turned out.”

The Cougars — who finished the season 15-4 — had to come through in the clutch, as Mead (17-2) owned a one-goal lead and milked more than three minutes off the clock as it stalled.

Evergreen ran a double team that dislodged the ball and netted the tying score with 21.8 seconds left on a free shot conversion by junior Addison McEvers.

A draw-control violation gave Evergreen possession and the Cougars got the ball in the middle, where Gardner drew the call that set up her free shot opportunity that bounced into the net as the clock his zeros.

“It was really scary, really hectic at the end,” Gardner said. “We forced them to drop the ball and we got a time out and Coach was like ‘basically, you guys have to bury it.’ We really took that and went out with all we had.”

Evergreen overcame an outstanding game from Mead, which got hat tricks from junior Lucy Connors and senior Sierra Ryan, along with a strong performance in the net from senior Anne Booth.

The Mavericks came back from a three-goal deficit in the third quarter with six straight goals — four in the third period and the first two of the fourth — go surge in front 10-7.

But a goal from Gardner followed by two from McEvers brought them back and eventually set up the chance to win with Gardner’s finish.

“I’m so excited, it doesn’t feel real,” said McEvers, who finished with three goals. “This game had ups and downs, but our team is so strong. We can fight through anything and we did. We had the chemistry and that’s what willed us to fight for what we deserve. It was crazy.”

Nothing was decided in the opening quarter, as Mead scored back-to-back goals before Evergreen had even touched the ball, but the Cougars responded with three straight goals to take the lead.

Connors scored with just 4.5 seconds left in the period to forge a 3-3 tie, then she scored again to open the second quarter as the Mavericks went back in front.

But they wouldn’t score the rest of the quarter as Evergreen finally solved Booth on scores from junior Alivia Hunsche and McEvers to take a one-goal halftime lead.

The see-saw second half saw both teams go up by as many as three goals, but this time it ended in Evergreen’s favor.

“This was very similar to when we played them before (a 12-11 Mead win May 2), but they had the ball at the end that time,” said Sanford as she dried off from a celebratory dousing.

“That final possession is just key,” she added. “This is a huge win for a special group.”