Olentangy Liberty, Upper Arlington win girls lacrosse regional titles

The Division I girls lacrosse state tournament field has a familiar feel, at least when it comes to central Ohio teams.

Olentangy Liberty and Upper Arlington captured regional championships May 28, putting the OCC-Central rivals one win away from a fourth consecutive clash in the big-school state final.

Two-time defending champion and top-seeded Liberty (18-3) defeated No. 2 New Albany 12-9 in the Region 1 final, while No. 1 UA (22-1) used a six-goal third quarter to beat second-seeded and league rival Dublin Coffman 11-6 in the Region 3 final.

UA senior midfielder Berkeley Thomas scored all three of her goals in the third period, when the Golden Bears outscored Coffman 6-0 to break a 4-4 halftime tie.

Senior attacker Ella Smith added three goals for UA, which won its fifth consecutive regional title and will play Springboro (17-5) in a state semifinal June 2 at Mason.

Senior attacker Aubrey Bartosik had six goals and senior midfielder Megan Benton and junior midfielder Eloise Pohmer each added three for Liberty, which will play Hudson (20-0) in the other semifinal at Ashland. The game was tied at 8 before Liberty scored three in a row to pull ahead for good.

The semifinal winners will meet in the state final June 7 at Historic Crew Stadium.

High school sports reporter Dave Purpura can be reached at dpurpura@dispatch.com and at @dp_dispatch on X.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Liberty, Upper Arlington advance to OHSAA girls lacrosse state semis