Grayson girls top Lambert for Class AAAAAA state title

Westendorf scored twice and had an assist, and sophomore Brittany Montgomery added two goals to fuel the Rams’ 5-0 win over Lambert on Saturday in the Class AAAAAA state championship at Mercer University.

It’s the first state championship for Grayson since 2007, and it was impressive.

Westendorf, who is graduating early and heading to Notre Dame, opened the scoring with a left-footer that put Grayson ahead 1-0 nine minutes into the game.

Montgomery followed with a dazzling individual effort, making a run all the way to the goal line before circling back for a right-footed shot that put the Rams up 2-0 with eight minutes left in the half.

Minutes later, junior forward Amanda Baker intercepted an attempted clear by Lambert, dribbled to the top of the box and went top-shelf to beat Longhorn goalie Jordyn Ebert. Baker’s goal put Grayson in complete command, up 3-0 heading into halftime.

The Rams knocked off Lambert in last year’s first round on their way to reaching the state championship game, where they’d lose to Harrison. Grayson avenged that loss with a 2-1 win over Harrison in this year’s second round May 9. The call from the U.S. national team came in the following days.

“They’ll get opportunities again, but I don’t know how many other kids would have done that,” Klinect said of Westendorf and Stevens’ decision. “It makes me proud to see how dedicated those kids are to this team.”

Grayson was the superior team, but the final score didn’t reflect Lambert’s efforts. The Longhorns had many opportunities, both in the first half when the game was tight and in the second half when Grayson was in protect-the-lead mode. But time after time, Lambert didn’t finish and failed to sneak a ball by Rams goalie Jesse Grogan.