Girls lacrosse wanted to get to graduation, beingsome of the only seniors who still had obligations to the school, still wearing the familiar orange and blue that these girls have embraced all season. After Wednesday, that dream seemed to inch closer and closer; however, it was not to be, as the girls followed up their first-round tournament victory over Hingham with a crushing defeat to Westwood on Friday.
Led by the seniors, Girls Lax notched their first tournament win in a tight, back and forth affair with Hingham by a score of 16-15. Senior Captains Erin Richardson and Michaela Tosone stole the show in the first five minutes of the first half–Richardson scored 3 goals while Tosone netted a pair–to give the Rebels a quick, domineering 5-1 advantage. Senior Captain Seana Cofsky won most all of the opening draws, giving the Rebels the advantage for the majority of the first half.
Cofsky began to take over the game, keeping possession and scoring two goals in succession to bring the score to 10-5 (Richardson also tallied another goal). However, Hingham stayed in the game, never letting the lead to get to more than 5 goals, keeping pace with the Rebel attack. With about five minutes left in the half, Hingham’s offense flourished as they started to gain more possession. Even with some excellent saves from junior goalie Erin LeBlanc, Hingham’s offense took advantage of the tight refereeing and capitalized to lessen the Rebel advantage to two going into the half, 11-9.
The trend continued for the Rebels after the half: A string of whistles gave the Hingham attack ample opportunities to level the game, which they did, at 11, with more than twenty minutes left in the game. After two quick goals from Tosone and Richardson, Hingham scored three unanswered past LeBlanc to take the lead for the first time since 1-0 early in the first half. Richardson’s next goal, emblematic of her play throughout the whole season, embodied her stellar performance–and the Hingham defenders’ reaction to the strict refereeing–as she went coast to coast, sprinting by six Hingham girls with ease and beating the keeper to tie the score.
This was probably one of the last energetic plays of the game, as–after a Tosone goal and a shorthanded Hingham goal–a lethargic, yet calculated, pace set in. Walpole enjoyed a long possession which culminated in a Tosone goal, restoring Walpole’s lead. After Hingham missed several chances in front of the Rebel net, Cofsky, Richardson, and Tosone slowed the game down, trying to run out the remaining four minutes to ensure a Rebel victory. After a minute of this play, the frustration of the Hingham players showed as one girl picked up her second yellow card–an ejection–and another picked up her first. This put the Rebels two girls up, allowing for the Rebels to cycle possession without any real challenge. From forward to forward to midfielder to forward to midfielder the ball went, as the fans, players, and coaches watched the clock wind down to zero. Finally, after what seemed to be an interminable Walpole possession–lasting from 4:14 to the end of the game–the Rebels were able to celebrate their first round victory.
The Harbormen seemed to have no answer for the senior Captain midfielders Richardson, Tosone, and Cofsky, as they tallied 6 , 6, and 3 goals respectively; the trio accounted for all but one of the Rebels’ goals. “Even though I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to Turco field, that was definitely the best way to do it,” Tosone said.
Despite the score, the Westwood game featured more of the same strong play from the senior midfielders; junior Michele Lucas said that it was the Rebels’ “best game of the year.” However, Westwood’s girls lacrosse program is miles ahead of Walpole’s, and the girls succumbed to the ever-increasing Wolverine pressure and lost, 16-4. Westwood came in as the number one seed and heavily favored to win, even though the Rebels came into the game with the mindset of making one of the most improbable upsets in school history. It was not to be, as, despite a valiant effort and a great work ethic, Westwood steamrolled Walpole.
Seniors Steph Barmakian, Cofsky, Tosone, and Richardson all netted a goal in the losing effort, reflecting the season for the Girls Lacrosse team: one captained, led, and dominated by seniors, who had played on the same team with the same girls for over ten years.
