DURHAM - Moments before the Apex girls lacrosse team took the field for the second half Saturday, assistant coach Rob Bromley reminded the Cougars they had just 25 minutes left in their season and he asked what they were going to do with it.

Apex responded by scoring four goals in the first five minutes of the second half and went on to beat Charlotte Catholic 19-13 at Durham County Stadium to win the N.C. High School Women's Lacrosse Association state championship for the second straight year.

"When I first started, I never thought we would get this far, let alone win it back-to-back," said Apex keeper Bethany Shenberger, one of two seniors who were a part of Apex's first team when the program started in 2005. "I never thought it would happen -- ever."

Jessica Pinneo, the Apex head coach, couldn't help but marvel at how quickly Apex (16-3) has gone from being a team that knew little about lacrosse to becoming the best in the state in a span of just four seasons.

"The girls just fell in love with the game," Pinneo said. "And when they love the game, they do extra outside. It went from coming just two days a week to practicing five days to practicing summer, fall and winter. That's the difference."

MVP Sasha Vedock scored four goals for Apex, upping her season total to 107 and polishing off her high school career with a fourth state championship (she won titles at Green Hope in 2005 and '06). Junior midfielder Sarah Fellows had five goals and two assists, and classmate Courtney McLaughlin had a goal and six assists.

Freshman Cawley Bromley scored the first of her six goals 30 seconds into the contest, giving Apex a lead it never relinquished. Catholic (16-2) pulled within a goal on three separate occasions in the first half but was never able to tie the score.

Apex went up 9-7 on Bromley's goal at the 3:43 mark in the first half, and then the Cougars scored three times in 1:16 to go up 12-7 with 31 seconds left in the period.

They carried that momentum into the second half. Fellows scored 21 seconds in, and then Bromley scored three times in 2:08, all of which were assisted by McLaughlin. Then, the lead was suddenly 16-8.