SPRINGFIELD — A frantic pace filled the third quarter of the Western Massachusetts Class C girls lacrosse championship on Tuesday evening at Berte Field. Only 10 total goals were scored in the first half between No. 1 South Hadley and No. 3 Wahconah, and the two teams erupted for a dozen in the third frame alone.

The offensive onslaught continued into the fourth, but with the game tied 12-12 with just under 10 minutes to go, both defenses tightened. The next six and a half minutes didn’t feature a goal, and as the clock continued to churn, it felt as if the next team to put one in would hoist the Class C trophy.

The Warriors were granted a free position shot with 3 minutes, 23 seconds remaining in the game, and they converted to jump ahead 13-12. As they did for much of the final nine minutes, the Tigers had several terrific chances to bury the equalizing goal late. But it never came, and their third straight trip to the sectional title game ended in heartbreak – a 13-12 loss to Wahconah.

A season ago, it was South Hadley celebrating on the turf following a championship-game victory. On Tuesday, the Tigers were on the other side of it.

Despite the loss, South Hadley head coach Danielle Clark remained proud of the Tiger program – one that has become accustomed to playing in big games late in the spring season.

“It’s really exciting [to be here three years in a row],” Clark said. “Coming in three years ago as the head coach, all I wanted was to build the program back up. We had a JV team this year for the first time in a few years, and we had seventh and eighth graders up on the team. It’s just cool to see and feel the program coming together and having girls want to play.”

The first 12 minutes of action were a precursor for the rest of the game. Neither team could gain any momentum on the other, and a back-and-forth first quarter ended in a 3-3 tie before Wachonah finally created some separation with three unanswered goals in the second. South Hadley’s Margo Watkins buried a goal on an assist from Ava Asselin with just eight seconds left to make it 6-4 in favor of the Warriors at the break.

That late tally sparked a 3-0 Tigers run of their own, as Kelcey Zraunig and Caitlin Dean scored goals early in the third to knot it back up at six. The see-saw battle resumed and played out the rest of the way.

Wahconah and South Hadley traded the contest’s next goals 12 goals, with the Warriors scoring first before the Tigers answered almost immediately. The score ballooned from 6-6 to 12-12 in the blink of an eye until the pace finally slowed down in the fourth. That’s when South Hadley failed to capitalize when it had possession, leading to Wahconah’s eventual game-winner with a little over three minutes to go.

“Yeah, we felt like [if we could get one goal when it was 12-12] it would be huge,” Clark said. “We’ve told the girls, we can coach all the things, we can coach the whole season and give them all the tools, but at the end of the day they’re the ones out there playing and they’re the ones that have to get the ball in the back of the net. At that time in the game, we had to get the ball in the net. And we couldn’t. We came up just short.”

Watkins (four goals) and Raquel Losty (three) led the way for South Hadley with a combined seven goals while Asselin dished out a game-high four assists and Dean added a goal and an assist – all four of South Hadley’s seniors tallying multiple points. Zraunig added a hat trick of her own and Hannah Haesaert buried a goal to round out the Tigers’ scoring.

The senior class of Watkins, Losty, Asselin and Dean have set the standard of what Clark wants the South Hadley girls lacrosse program to look like for years to come – and they left it all out on the field in the final Western Mass. tournament game of their careers.

“They’ve meant so much,” Clark said. “They were the heart of the team. They were our captains and held it all together in some games. Margo had four goals today, Ava had four assists. Those sorts of things are really hard to lose. We have a young team, so next year we’re going to need some girls to step up and fill those shoes. We’re going to miss them, for sure.”

South Hadley is currently ranked No. 23 in the MIAA Division 4 power rankings and will await its first-round opponent, which will be announced Wednesday afternoon along with its final seeding.