Junior Josie Derstine scored three consecutive goals in the first half to give the Delaware Hayes girls lacrosse team the lead.

The Pacers pushed their edge as high as seven before Big Walnut scored the last two goals of the game in the final 11 seconds to account for the 13-9 decision at Cornell Stadium in Delaware.

“This is huge,” Derstine said. “We’re big rivals with them – so we’re so excited. We had to beat them.”

The teams combined for five goals in the first four minutes of the game before the scoring slowed down to the tune of six goals over the next 34:25.

“We have really worked hard as a team on communication and fundamentals,” Hayes coach Katie Barnhart said. “Just slowing things down … has really worked well for this team.”

Cassady Becker scored the Golden Eagles’ first two goals, giving them leads of 1-0 and 2-1 early.

Cynthia Saxby scored once and assisted on Derstine’s first goal, giving the Pacers their first lead of the game at 3-2 with 21:05 remaining in the opening half.

Piper Adkins and Saxby scored back-to-back goals late in the half to push the Pacer lead to 7-3 – their largest to that point.

“I love (Saxby) in the midfield,” Barnhart said. “She’s a hard-working, very aggressive midfielder. She’s able to work the ball smartly.

“Piper is very goal-oriented. She knows her job out there, so I can’t ask any more than that.”

Izzy Rooney scored twice in the first half for the Eagles to keep them close. The second came with 1:07 remaining in the half to cut the deficit to 7-4 and it would stay that way through the break.

Becker scored her third goal at the 11:35 mark of the second half to cut the Eagle deficit to two.

But, that goal seemingly broke the seal. Hayes followed with two goals in a span of 17 seconds to push the lead back to four.

“I think we really settled in defensively,” BW coach Steve Palmer said. “Unfortunately, it was a day late and a dollar short. I think we went the first 14 minutes of the second half where we didn’t give up a goal and then we gave up two – bang-bang – and that was the difference in the game.”

Adkins scored the last two goals for the Pacers (3-1) to finish with a team-high four. Lindsay Wolverton finished with a pair of goals and Olivia Schroyer rounded out the scoring sheet.

Becker led the Eagles (1-1) with five goals and Meri Buckles added two – all in the final 1:13 of the game.

“We were really sloppy offensively and had a lot of turnovers,” Palmer said. “I think we were 2-for-8 or 2-for-9 on free-position shots. You do the math on that … there’s six or seven points we left out there.”

Next up, BW hosts Marysville Tuesday night at 7 p.m. and Hayes travels to Thomas Worthington Thursday night at 7 p.m. to open its OCC-Cardinal schedule.