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Burr and Burton's Paige Samuelson fights through contact during Friday's Division I state championship game at the University of Vermont's Virtue Field.

Burr and Burton's Tatum Sands flips a pass to teammate Paige Samuelson (15) while the BFA defense attentively looks on.

BBA goalie Iris Nofziger makes one of her four saves during the 2022 Division I girls lacrosse state championship on Friday.

Burr and Burton's Paige Samuelson fights through contact during Friday's Division I state championship game at the University of Vermont's Virtue Field.

Burr and Burton's Tatum Sands flips a pass to teammate Paige Samuelson (15) while the BFA defense attentively looks on.

BBA goalie Iris Nofziger makes one of her four saves during the 2022 Division I girls lacrosse state championship on Friday.

BURLINGTON — Burr and Burton girls lacrosse gave the No. 1 BFA St. Albans Comets all they could handle in Friday’s Division I championship at Virtue Field in a back-and-forth affair.

The Comets just had an answer to every Bulldog run, outlasting BBA 10-9 behind a strong second half comeback to win their first title in program history.

An Allison Bushey score in traffic with 15:35 remaining gave BFA its first lead of the second half, 6-5 and its first lead since the opening goal from Loghan Thomas two minutes into the contest. The Bushey goal served as a turning point for BFA.

It was apparent early in the second half that BFA had instilled its game plan, something they were unable to do over the opening 25 minutes as the Bulldogs used an extremely patient approach to maintain possession for most of the half.

The most jarring example came after a Tatum Sands score with exactly seven minutes into the first half. Brooke Weber set the senior up on the score to give BBA its first lead, 2-1, of the afternoon.

BBA secured the ensuing draw control, ran toward the Comets’ net and held onto the ball for the next seven minutes and 22 seconds. The Bulldogs fired a handful of shots, finally getting one past BFA’s goalie Ayla Shea when Sands connected on a shot rolling off the body of a defender as she attacked the left side of the field with 10:38 remaining in the opening half. Sands’ back-to-back scores gave the Bulldogs a 3-1 lead.

BBA coach Ken Stefanak was pleased with the tempo his team played at. BBA outshot BFA 16-7 in the first half. Despite the major shot differential, BBA held just a one-goal advantage heading into the break.

With Shea holding down her side of the field, BFA had its first response of the title match following the long BBA possession, and it started with Rae Alexander. The sophomore midfielder found open space on the left side of the field with under nine minutes left in the first half and zoomed down the field, putting the BBA defense on its heels.

As the Bulldogs defensive unit began to settle, Alexander connected with Sophie Zemianek who was trailing the play. Zemianek finished the play with her first of three goals, bringing BFA back within one.

It was a battle of play styles in the first half, and in the final minutes BFA began to play its game. The Comets got out on the break again with 5:09 on the clock and this time Jodie Gratton was the beneficiary, netting the equalizer to knot the game at 3-3.

BBA retook the lead on a Paige Samuelson crease roll score two minutes before halftime. Samuelson fought through some contact to give BBA the 4-3 lead heading into the break.

Although the Comets trailed by one at the halfway point, the last few minutes of the first half served as a shifting point in the contest. Instead of letting the Bulldogs take all the time they wanted on the offensive end, BFA began to push the pace which resulted in a couple relatively quick scores.

Meanwhile, BFA coach Mary Pipes said her team was right where they felt most comfortable.

Gratton scored the first goal of the second half at the 19:46 mark to once again bring the game even. Even when Weber put the Bulldogs back ahead a minute later, charging the net from the eight-meter, BFA remained poised.

Part of that goes back to last postseason, where BFA orchestrated a come-from-behind win on the Manchester turf in the D-I semifinals. Piper said BFA watched the film from the 2021 playoff matchup during a team dinner on Thursday night.

Drawing from that playoff experience, which saw BFA fall to South Burlington in the title game, provided comfort for the Comets.

“We kind of knew what we needed to do to get here and we were a lot calmer,” Piper said. “Last year we were so hyped up.”

That poise helped BFA pull away late, who put together a three-goal run over the next five minutes of action to take a 7-5 lead with 12:29 on the clock.

The Bulldogs didn’t go quietly. Sands and Annabelle Gray each put one in the back of the net over the next three minutes, making it a 7-7 game with just under 10 minutes left.

BFA scored two more quick goals while it took BBA nearly eight minutes to answer. Desperately needing a score Weber netted a clutch goal as Grace McDonald found her cutting toward the net with 2:28 remaining, bringing BBA back within one, 9-8.

But as they had done all game, BFA answered again. Just like her timely goal 15 minutes prior, it was Bushey again. It took just 30 seconds for the Comets to regain their two-goal advantage as Bushey rolled toward the net and finished with 1:58.

It proved too much to overcome for BBA, which netted a goal with 2.9 seconds remaining, but there wasn’t enough time for the equalizer to send the game to overtime. The final seconds of the clock bled as the ball flew through the air on the ensuing draw control.

Stefanak admitted the loss will stay with the Bulldogs for a while, but the coach is optimistic Friday’s game is just a bump in the road for a program trending upward.

“I think we bring back enough next year that after the sting of this goes away, which is going to take a long time … but we have enough youth in the program right now. Last year we got knocked out in the [semifinals], we came through the semis this year, and we’ll see what happens.”

Michael Mawson can be reached on Twitter @Mawson_Sports or via email at mmawson@benningtonbanner.com.

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