Century senior Katie Schwarzmann has scored 291 goals in her career, but none bigger than Wednesday night's last-second regional championship winner.
With two seconds left in a tie game with Liberty, Schwarzmann stood on the 8-meter arc facing goalie Schylar Healy, who had just made two point-blank saves. The All-Metro midfielder shot the free-position goal high into the net as time expired for a 15-14 victory and the Class 2A-1A West regional girls lacrosse title.
"I've never been that excited in my life, ever," Schwarzmann said of her sixth goal. "I was thinking about it before I did it, but I just had to go with what I'm used to, shooting it high. When they handed me that ball, I was shaking."
The No. 11 Knights (13-1), who have won three state titles, return to the final four Friday or Saturday for the sixth time in seven years.
Wednesday night's victory avenged a 10-9 regular-season loss to the No. 9 Lions (13-2), who rallied from trailing 8-3 to lead 14-11 on Maggie McCormick's fourth goal with 6:21 to go. Schwarzmann then scored twice before Claire Brady tied it at 14 with 1:15 left.
The Knights coaches then called for a stick check on Liberty's Kelsey Kirby. The pocket was too deep, and Century was awarded the next draw.
With 25 seconds left, Angela Flister ripped a shot that Healy saved, but the Lions turned the ball over with 11 seconds left. Schwarzmann took off and was fouled going to goal, resulting in the pivotal free position.
Liberty coach Kristin Crutchfield said she couldn't have asked for more from her team: "I just told them no matter what, you need to come out and make sure you give it 150 percent and you want it more. I have to say our girls did want it more. The outcome of the game was just unfortunate."
