It’s a four-peat: No. 1 Bear River ousts No. 2 Waterford 8-6 in 4A girls lacrosse championship
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- Bear River hoists the 4A state trophy following an 8-6 win over Waterford in the state girls lacrosse championship on Thursday, May 22, 2025, at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman.
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- Bear River’s Shelby Wilkinson (9) attempts to pry the ball free from Waterford’s Rose Harris during the 4A state girls lacrosse championship on Thursday, May 22, 2025, at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman.
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- Bear River’s Brighton Wise is jubilant following an 8-6 win over Waterford in the 4A state girls lacrosse championship on Thursday, May 22, 2025, at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman.
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- Bear River’s Ella Criddle (11) and Waterford’s Anne Howard (10) race upfield during the 4A state girls lacrosse championship on Thursday, May 22, 2025, at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman.
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- Bear River’s Adelai Allen (38) turns to pass around Waterford’s Raneem Alsolaiman (1) and Melanie McKean (20) during the 4A state girls lacrosse championship on Thursday, May 22, 2025, at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman.
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- Bear River gathers after a goal during the 4A state girls lacrosse championship versus Herriman on Thursday, May 22, 2025, at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman.
HERRIMAN — These days, it’s hard not to associate Bear River girls lacrosse and the term “state champion” in the same sentence.
Leaning on Brighton Wise in goal, No. 1 Bear River used a stock of late-game saves and Willamette commit Shelby Wilkinson’s title-clinching fourth goal to deny No. 2 Waterford 8-6 in the 4A state championship game on Thursday evening at Zions Bank Stadium.
A perfect 21-0 finish for the Bears marks the second consecutive unbeaten season for coach Jeremy Webb, the state’s all-time winningest coach with 90 wins since 2020. Webb and the Bears also hold a state record with an ongoing 57 consecutive wins since 2023.
Wise, Wilkinson and Hadley Carrigan — Bear River’s three seniors — ushered in yet another championship for a program that’s won every 4A tourney since the sport was organized around the 6A/5A/4A classifications in 2021.
Long before that, Wilkinson was simply a teammate of Webb’s daughter, freshman Jeanine Webb, on their Garland-based youth team.
“I still remember her in those pigtails and those little pink goggles,” Webb said. “That’s the way I remember her (and) to see her as a grown woman, it kinda puts a tear in your eye.”
As a junior, Wise was cut from the softball team and opted for lacrosse after the 2024 seniors coerced her with a plate of homemade cookies — a convincing proposition. Wise returned to Bear River as the starter in goal following a season-ending injury last spring.
“There’s no words to describe it,” Wise said. “I’ve been very blessed with the success I’ve found in sports. It’s been a lot of hard work, but I’m almost relieved that I don’t have to keep up that grind — but at the same time, I’m going to miss these girls, all the quality time, all the good times and the bad. I really owe them a lot.”
Bear River played without its second-leading scorer in Mollie Call (3.6 goals per match), as well as her sister, Brinlie Call, as the pair’s mother battles brain cancer in Hawaii.
“Those girls, they make a huge impact on our team and we love them so much,” Wilkinson said. “They have such true spirits, but everybody just came out here today ready to do their job.”
And perform they did, earning a title for their absent sisters and celebrating yet another milestone for a program quickly growing its reputation as that of a dynasty.
Jeanine Webb produced two key goals before halftime and the Bears led 6-2 through two quarters. Waterford (14-4) opened the third quarter scoring two uncontested goals via Grace Morris and Anne Howard. With Wilkinson’s third goal, Bear River led 7-4 by the fourth quarter.
“It doesn’t matter what the obstacles are, we knew this was going to be a battle today,” Webb said. “We knew they were going to come back out in the second half, and they did. (Waterford) did a good job, made good adjustments at (halftime) and I’m just glad to hold on.”
Among repeated looks by Whitney Spanos, the Ravens finally snuck one by Wise with 2:12 left. Winning the subsequent faceoff, Waterford fell shy of the net and Harrigan’s recovery staged Wilkinson’s game-clinching fourth goal on the other end.
Through the jubilation, Wise left the field with a bit of solace as she sought out her father, Chris, the team’s goalkeeping coach, following her state performance.
“I’ve been so grateful to have him here with me,” Wise said. “It’s really a special thing to be able to share this with my dad.”
“She didn’t really get to see the field at all last year,” Webb added. “For her to put the time in, and really study her craft … You can tell she’s done a lot of film work because she knew when those girls were going to shoot today.”
Wise is just one senior face that’ll be missing from Webb’s returning cast next spring, but, as Webb puts it, there’s no telling what the next squad has in store. This latest title is the 29th all-time state championship in school history.
“We lost 10 seniors from last year and we knew we were young and every year, people write us off,” Webb said. “But I know our program that we have in place, and in my opinion, it’s the best program in the state of Utah, and we proved it again today.”
Connect with sports reporter Conner Becker via email at cbecker@standard.net and X @ctbecker.
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It’s a four-peat: No. 1 Bear River ousts No. 2 Waterford 8-6 in 4A girls lacrosse championship
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