COLUMBUS, OH - After six long years away from the State Championship, Saint Ignatius Lacrosse returned with an opportunity to win the program's first championship after defeating Dublin Jerome 17-8 in the OHSAA State Semifinal. They would match up against the country's sixth-ranked team and Ohio's first-ranked team via Maxpreps, the St. Xavier Bombers. 

The scene was set at Historic Crew Stadium in Columbus as the Wildcats and Bombers were underway. The game started the way it typically started, with a Jacob Roubic face-off win, and the Wildcats took over. 

The Cats opened the game with a couple of scoring opportunities, with Ty Seighman and Henry Ferguson, but the shots went wide. At the 8:45 mark of the first period, the Bombers would score first as Daniel Vollmer got a shot past goalie Freddy Webster. Vollmer is a junior Vanderbilt commit for football, playing quarterback in the fall for the Bombers.

The Wildcat and Bomber defenses were stout throughout the opening quarter, giving an early indication that scoring would be difficult. With 58 seconds remaining in the quarter, the Wildcats would tie the game with a Ferguson goal, his 41st on the season. 

The Wildcats looked to take a tie game into the next period, but with 19 tics on the clock, St. Xavier's Ryder Munz would take back the lead. In the next frame, the Wildcats would pull the score even once again with the Seighman goal at the 10:12 mark. 

It took just eight seconds for the Bombers to take back the lead as Magnus Violet won the face-off and would score. The Bombers would not look back, owning the lead for the remainder of the game. With 34 seconds remaining before half, DJ Wojciechowski would extend the Bomber lead to 4-2 at the break.

Despite trailing by two goals heading into the second half, the Wildcats were in a good spot. The defense remained steady, and on the offensive side, the Wildcats took quality shots on goal. With 10:03 remaining in the third, Bryce Allen cut the Bomber lead to one with a goal. 

As they were able to do all game long, the Bombers answered with 9:02 left to play in the third as Spencer Stegbauer made it 5-3. 

The Wildcats continued to navigate through adversity, as Ferguson hit his second goal of the game with 8:16 remaining to pull the Wildcats within one again at 5-4. The scoring would then come in bunches for St. Xavier, with goals from Spencer Stegbauer, Johnnie Guttman, and Wojciechowski to end the period on a 3-0 run, giving the Bombers an 8-4 lead heading to the fourth.

The run for St. Xavier continued to the 7:26 mark of the fourth quarter, with two goals from Brian O'Connor and one from Wojciechowski to extend the Bomber lead to 11-4. 

The Wildcats would look to take it a goal at a time on their comeback as Will French would score with 6:33 remaining, and Allen would score with 5:06 left to play to make it 11-6 in favor of the Bombers. 

St. Xavier began to burn the clock, working the ball around X in their offensive zone. Vollmer iced the game with 2:46 left in the fourth, finishing the scoring at 12-6. 

It would be the Bombers' third State Championship in program history. For the Wildcats, it's the fourth time in program history they have been state runners-up, third in the OHSAA era (2017, 2018, 2025). 

It was a season to remember for the Wildcats, finishing the season 15-7. They would clinch a Regional Championship for the sixth time in program history. Individually, senior Jacob Roubic is the new program record for most face-offs won in a season with 314. Junior Michael McManamon was the team leader in shots, goals, assists, and points. He would score 39 goals and 41 assists this season. 

Senior goalie Freddy Webster was a three-year starter in net for the Wildcats and finished this season with 136 saves. 

The Class of 2025 commits continuing their academic and lacrosse careers include Freddy Webster (Rochester Institute of Technology), Brody Olsen (Rollins College), Bryce Allen (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), Garrett Reilly (Rochester Institute of Technology), Ty Seighman (Mercyhurst University), Jacob Roubic (University of Tampa), Nathan Smith (Providence College), and Ryan Lynch (Iona University).