BETHLEHEM - Pleasant Valley girls lacrosse coach Toni Bush remembers walking out of Frank Banko Field at Lehigh University after last year’s loss in the district finals.

It was a depressing walk for her and the PV players after they let a five-goal lead in the second quarter slip away as Easton scored seven unanswered goals and went on to win 12-10, denying the Bears an undefeated season, their first district championship and a spot in the PIAA tournament.

It was also the second straight season that Pleasant Valley lost in the district finals after they fell to Emmaus the year before.

This season the walk was postponed by an extended celebration on the field, but when the Bears exited it was with the swagger of a team celebrating all the things they missed a year ago.

Pleasant Valley needed a quarter to settle in on Wednesday but rattled off a stretch of nine unanswered goals, holding Easton scoreless for a total of 30:43 of game time to beat the Red Rovers 14-3.

“Walking down that sidewalk last year was like taking the worst walk of my life,” said Bush, who was emotional talking about the memory and the change of fortunes.

“I said to the girls, ‘I want to walk out celebrating tonight.’ This has been burning in us for years, and they got off to a rocky start and it took us a little while to get our composure. Once we did, they just started clicking. When push came to shove, they stepped up and they got the job done.”

The two teams traded first-quarter goals that came just 24 seconds apart when Rylee Rath scored for the Bears, and Tyler Long evened up the game for Easton (13-4-1).

The jitters went away, and Pleasant Valley took control when Devon Bush cut through the defense to make it 2-1 and 1:30 later, Alivia Rath took a strong and perfectly placed pass from Morgan Ryals to put the Bears up 3-1.

Not long after that, Rylee Rath fired a shot from a free position that bounced off the frame of the goal and right to Ryals, who redeposited the ball and this time sailed it past goalie Olivia Heryla. Next up was Samantha Miller, who scored two goals in a span of just 12 seconds, bouncing a shot in off a free position and then sneaking a shot into the goal when Heryla had come out to try to make a play.

“With how physical they were being, we were just trying to keep our composure and obviously, it worked,” said Miller, who finished the night with four goals. “We did get a couple cards, but that’s just how the game works, and we kept our composure pretty well and got better on the attacking end as the game went on.”

Pleasant Valley built the lead to 10-1 with 5:06 left in the third quarter before Easton was able to get back on track. The Red Rovers scored twice late in the quarter to cut the advantage to 10-3.

Pleasant Valley got two more goals in the fourth quarter as Rylee Rath got her third and both Alivia Rath and Olivia Iandoli picked up their second goals of the game as the Bears (21-0) scored four times in the final 2:10 of play. Bush also finished the game with two goals.

Coach Bush didn’t keep track of who was doing what, and credited a strong team effort to win the game and put away the bad memories of the past two district playoffs. Without knowing the stats, Bush was able to dole out some praise.

“Whoever it was that scored the most goals for us shouldn’t get all the accolades because this was a true team win,” said Bush. “I want to throw the stat book out the window and say honestly that every single one of the players deserve their name in the paper.

“I don’t know who scored what, but I do know that Abby played the game of her freaking life tonight. I have certain players on this team who just kill it in big games, and she was on fire tonight. Abby knows how much I wanted this, and she is one player in particular that knows when the coach wants something and wants to get it for her.”

When asked if she did in fact play the game of “her freaking life,” goalie Abygail Borger had a good laugh before deflecting the praise to the rest of the team.

“That sounds like her,” said Borger. “I think we all played with a lot of passion. We definitely have the skill to win, we just had to have the mindset too.”

Easton came out playing a physical game from the start and Rylee Rath took the brunt of the hits. The Rovers were given five yellow cards in the game, compared to just two for Pleasant Valley.

“It kind of hurt a little bit, but the adrenaline just got me through,” admitted Rath. “I just kept going because after the last two years, we really wanted this.”

In addition to three straight trips to the district finals, Pleasant Valley also has won three straight EPC championships. As a junior, Borger had felt the pain of the last two seasons in districts, and is now able to celebrate the feeling of being on the other side.

“I am definitely excited,” said Borger. “Now I really want to win next year.”

ONE MORE STEP TO STATES … Unfortunately, the district championship does not come with an automatic trip to states. The Bears will have a play-in game Friday in Wilkes-Barre against District 2 champion Delaware Valley. The winner of that game goes to states and will open play against a team from District 1.