NORTHAMPTON — All good things do come to an end.

On Tuesday, Pleasant Valley’s four straight years as the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference girls lacrosse tournament champions came to an end with a 10-8 loss to Nazareth.

After taking early 2-0 and 3-2 leads and tied once, the Bears found themselves battling from behind from the 24-second mark of the first quarter until the final horn sounded at the end of the game.

Bears superstar Rylee Rath hit the back of the net on the first shot of the match between two teams that had amassed 38 wins this past season with a goal at 9:56 of the first quarter. Fifty-three seconds later, she scored again on one of her patented rushing attacks.

Nazareth had very little time of possession, and were forced to play defense until a Bears turnover gave them the ball with five minutes gone by in the game.

The Blue Eagles took advantage.

Mia Pulliam scored to bring her team within a goal and 34 seconds later, Natalie Mihalko tied the game at two apiece.

Rath was virtually unstoppable. She tallied the hat trick at the 3:55 mark of the first quarter to give the Bears a short-lived lead.

Mihalko drilled her second goal from in close to tie the game at 3-3 and with 24 seconds left in the first, Kherington Smith scored for a 4-3 Blue Eagle advantage.

Entering the second quarter, every recorded shot was a goal until Nazareth’s Macey Tonkay saved a close-in shot with three minutes ticked off the clock.

With possession after the save, Pulliam’s shot in the top shelf was her second goal for a 5-3 lead.

After winning another draw, Rath — who won 19 of 21 draw controls in the game — flipped a shot into the net to cut the deficit to 5-4 with 6:25 left in the first half.

Despite their 18 wins this year, the Bears have needed some come-from-behind wins, including a victory over Southern Lehigh after trailing by six.

This game had the same feel to it, but Nazareth stifled every Bears attempt to forge into the lead.

Parker Golden began a three-goal surge for the second-seeded Eagles at 3:32. Two minutes later, Smith took a pass from Mihalko for their seventh score and with 1:07 left in the half, she scored her hat trick to open an 8-4 Nazareth advantage at the intermission.

The top-seeded defending champs fired up their fans with three straight goals in the first three minutes of the third quarter to cut the margin to one.

Brielle Halamar stole a pass deep in the offensive zone and scored. With a two-man power play advantage, she buried another shot in the left hand corner of the goal, and at 8:58 Rath scored her fifth goal of the game. The Bears comeback was once again in progress.

But Nazareth showed no panic and seemed to steal momentum after three stellar saves by Tonkay, including a blazing shot by Rath no more than 10 feet in front of the net.

Pleasant Valley’s comeback got a little harder after Smith buried her hat trick shot with 33 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

Twelve minutes to play and down 9-7, the Bears’ task was certainly doable, but the Eagles defense clamped down on attack after attack.

With eight minutes to play, Mihalko scored her fourth of the game to increase her team’s lead to 10-7.

With plenty of time left in the game, the Bears could not seem to find much rhythm to their offensive attack with a passing game that did not penetrate Nazareth’s defensive wall set up in front of their goal.

The Bears’ valiant effort did pay off when Gabrielle Kutzler scored on an assist from Samantha Miller.

With five minutes left, Pleasant Valley needed two to tie. At the three and a half minute mark, Tonkay made another brilliant save. With possession and the clock on their side, the Eagles turned the ball over with 55 seconds to go, but the Bears returned the favor 20 seconds later to secure Nazareth’s claim to the title.

Tears flowed from both benches after the game.

Eagles coach Michelle Mihalko had a few of her own.

“This is just amazing,” she said. “What a big win for our program, especially with them having such a great player in Rylee Rath. I thought we took the momentum back after they scored the first three goals in the second half, and we played with poise and possession right until the end.”

Bears coach Hanna Doerner blamed the loss on the mistakes her team made.

“We lost this game on our own,” said Doerner. “Too many turnovers and fouls in their attack zone. We made adjustments at the half that worked, but overall we failed to execute our offensive game plan.”

RATH’S WRATH UPON GOALIES ... With her five scores, Rath increased her school record career goals to 406 and her point total to 551.

REVENGE AT LAST ... With the win, Nazareth avenged an early season 10-6 loss to the Bears and a loss to Pleasant Valley in last year’s EPC title game.

BEST IN THE LEAGUE ... Following the game, the EPC First Team All-Star team was announced. Selected from Pleasant Valley were Brielle Halamar and Alyzah Borger. Rylee Rath was named the 2026 EPC Most Valuable Player.

Nazareth 4 4 1 1 - 10

Pleasant Valley 3 1 3 1 - 8

Goals: Nazareth - Mihalko 4, Smith 3, Pulliam 2, Golden 1; Pleasant Valley - Rath 5, Halamar 2, Kutzler 1; Assists: Nazareth - Mihalko 3, Stouffer 2, Pulliam 1; Pleasant Valley - Miller 1; Saves: Nazareth - Tonkay 8; Pleasant Valley - Stipeck 5.

Records: Nazareth (20-1); Pleasant Valley (18-2).