Concord-Carlisle Girls Lacrosse Dropped From Tournament

Many teams have struggled to out shoot Lincoln-Sudbury and few have succeed.

Concord-Carlisle girls lacrosse team produced a fair share of shots on goal in its rematch with L-S, but like others had trouble outscoring the offensively dynamic Warriors.  Despite putting the ball on goal twelve times, the No. 3 Patriots dropped a 20-5 loss to host No. 2 L-S in semifinals of the MIAA Division 1 North Tournament.

“They kept getting numbers up on us and we could not stop the freight train,” said C-C coach Paul Morrison. “We tried to face guard Maddy Acton and get numbers on (Meghan) Griffin and (Rachel) Sexton. (L-S) has outstanding personnel and a great game plan.”

The two teams played five weeks ago in Sudbury with the Warriors winning 19-6.

L-S (19-2) looked to be in complete control of its rematch with its DCL rival after opening with eight straight goals. The Patriots (16-4) put pressure on L-S by forcing a 9-3 margin off an early second half score, but the Warriors responded seconds later off the draw to help them re-boost offensively and put the game away.

“In the first half, a majority of our goals were on the fast break,” said L-S coach Deb DeJesus. “When you have the speed of Maddy coming down the field, all the players are drawn to her. Concord has a great goalie so we really talked and practiced shooting against her.”

Down 8-0, Patriots senior captain Jamie Potter buried a free position shot in the bottom corner to give C-C its first score at 4:08 in the first half. After seceding another score, Potter and teammate sophomore Kate Welsh sandwiched the halftime break with a pair of goals.

Using her back to gain position, Potter spun around two defenders and finished a bounce shot to shorten the margin to 9-3 at 24:45 in the second half.

“In the second half, we said you have to get in there, get some dirty goals, get nicked up, and grab some penalty shots,” said Morrison. “They really protect at eight meters from the goal so it is hard to penetrate there.”

As they did all night, the Warriors had a quick response to the Patriots' score.

Ten seconds after dropping a point, L-S hit sophomore Abby Quirk off the draw for a straight on the net goal. Scoring four straight in the next two and a half minutes, L-S junior Madison Acton used a one step pivot to catch teammate senior Jenna Kabat sneaking side net and put the Warriors up 13-3.

“That is called dodging and dodging again,” said Acton. “I will go and if the double team drops to me I'll pull out and try to hit one of my teammates cutting in. If the double does not come to me, I'll take my girl, get her off balance and go through the lane.”

While C-C senior captain Lindsay Cook broke the four goal streak at 21:07, the Warriors would score another four straight to go ahead 17-5 and seal the victory.

L-S set the tempo early in the game with four goals in three minutes starting with a breakaway goal by junior Meghan Griffin at the 20 minute mark. Motioning away from net, Quirk received a counter attack pass and spun to hit teammate freshman Eliza Guild for what was the Warriors eighth straight goal at 5:46 in the first half.

“I have to make sure the goalies stick is not in my way, because that is a big factor,” said Quirk. “Other than that I am looking for the open sticks and watching them slide off the shoulders of their picks.”

Quirk lead the game in scoring with five goals and four assist. Acton had three goals and two assist, while teammates Griffin, Kabat and Guild all had three goals and an assist.

Potter lead the Patriots in scoring with three in the net.

“I was trying to sneak in behind the net which is what I like to do, but our cutters were doing a good job of sliding off their picks,” said Quirk. “Most of (my goals) were off the transition, which is what we were looking to do today. My girl had to slide to the girl who was running the ball.”

L-S senior goalie Katie Boyle had seven saves off 12 shots with a 58.33 save percentage. C-C senior goalkeeper Melissa Mariano had eight saves off 28 shots with 28.57 save percentage.

“Katie had a great game staying focused and was in great position to make saves,” said DeJesus. “Our defense was unbelievable today as far as forcing bad shots. We talked a lot about taking away the high percentage shots and we did that.”

The loss finished a season in which C-C went undefeated in conference to win the DCL (Small).

“It was a great year for my senior year to go out on,” said Morrison. “They will always be able to point to that game and say they were the ones to knock (defending champions) Framingham out.”