The Girls Lacrosse team has had a succesful week so far. They took on Brookline on April 30, hoping to add another win to their previously 4-4-1 record. Then on Wednesday, May 2 they took on Dedham, again hoping to record another win.
Just three minutes into the start of the game, Senior Captain Hope Kelly scored a goal. Coming off the draw from Kelly’s goal, junior Erin Richardson used her speed and scored another point for Walpole. The Rebels continured to play well, when Junior Jen McDonald set a pick for Richardson, who was able to roll through the arc to score yet another goal. When Brookline managed to get the ball in their offensive zone, the Rebels rose to the challenge, playing good defense, especially sophomore Brooke Matherson and senior captain Courtney Bradley. Senior captain and goalie Erin Nelligan also excelled, stopping all of the shots that came to her.
When the Rebels cleared the ball down the field, junior Seana Cofsky scored Walpole’s fourth goal. Then Walpole settled the ball around the arc and sophomore Helena Ford made a good cut, caught a pass, and finished to give the Rebels their next point. Once again, the Rebels played strong defense when Brookline carried the ball to their end of the field, and were able to bring the ball back upfield once more. Junior Micaela Tosone recieved a free position shot becasue of a shooting space call against Brookline, which she scored off of with 12 minutes left in the first half. Sophomore Bri Doherty won the draw for Walpole, but Brookline managed to take the ball. The Rebels still held up on defense, with a great save by Nelligan, despite a shooting space call against them. Hope Kelly recovered the ball and brought it down the field to score her second goal of the game. The Rebels were agressive on offense once again, but the Brookline goalie made a good save to stop the Rebel attempt. As the Brookline goalie attempted to clear the ball, Doherty intercepted it for the Rebels and set up a good play, which ended the half.
Walpole began the second half, much like they began the first—with Cofsky passing off the ball to Richardson, who fired a shot and scored, making the score 10-2 in favor of the Rebels. Tosone made the next most notable play, when she intercepted a pass between Brookline players and passed to Jen McDonald, who gained a free position and scored, with 20 minutes left in the game.
Coming off the draw, Walpole set up another good play when Cofsky was fouled on a shooting space call, and score off the free postion. Continuing the scoring streak, Kelly caught a good pass to score another goal. Walpole then incorporated a play into their game, using ‘stack’. The play worked succesfully because Doherty fed a pass to Kelly who scored, making the score 13-2 in fabor of Walpole. After Kelly’s goal, Brookline ran the ball down the field and managed to add a third goal to their score. With 10 minutes left in the game, Tosone rushed in and scored, giving Walpole their 14 goal. Following Tosone’s goal, sophomore defender Brooke Matherson stole the ball from Brookline and ran it down the field, and rocketed a shot off the top corner of the goal, past the Brookline goalie. With five minutes left in the game, Brookline scored on Walpole, who had pulled all of their starters on defense, for the non-starting players. The Rebels were unable to answer Brookline’s goal, but with 30 seconds left in the game, Brookline scored their final goal, making the final score 15-5 in favor of Walpole.
Junior Jen McDonald said of the game, “I think after coming back from some tough competition our team played very well, when we play our game we are very hard to beat.”
After beating Brookline by a wide margin, the Rebels could enter their game against Dedham with confidence. They did just that, beating Dedham with a score of 16-3, in favor of Walpole. McDonald said, “we put the ball in the net and got a chance to practice the things we need to work on.”
In regards to their upcoming game, McDonald said “Now that we’re back on the winning streak we only hope to continue it and get revenge against Newton North.” The Rebels had previously suffered a tough loss to Newton North, and will be playing them for a second time.
