Written by David Moser. Photos by Michaela Donato.
Another day, another game, another win for Walpole’s girls lacrosse team. On Monday, June 13, the one seed Walpole Rebels defeated the one seed Marblehead Magicians 15-6 in the Division Two Eastern State Semifinals. The win is Walpole’s third of the postseason; the first two coming from wins over North Attleboro (20-9) and Medfield (12-10). The win also marks the furthest a Rebels Girls Lacrosse team has gone in the postseason.
[flagallery gid=185]
Walpole, the winner of the eastern sectionals bracket, played Marblehead, the winner of the northern sectionals bracket, at Babson College in Wellesley. If the first five minutes of the game were any indicator, the Rebels put themselves on a clear path to victory right from the start. Junior Alison Foley notched the first — after sophomore Libby Foley intercepted a pass from the Magicians — and sophomore Celia Walsh and Emily Curtis followed with one each of their own to make the score 3-0, Rebels.
“Being up three to nothing was great, but we knew we could not stop there” said midfielder junior Mel Weber. “We knew we had to keep competing at our best.”
Fast forward to eleven minutes left in the half, and Walpole held a lead over Marblehead 6-4. The three goals for Walpole came thanks to Curtis, who notched another two for Walpole, and Foley, who notched one more. Having one of her best halves this season, Curtis scored again to put the Rebels up 7-5. Following Curtis’ fourth of the game, junior Mel Weber scored her first — to send Walpole into the half with an 8-5 lead.
Only two words come to mind when defining Walpole’s second half: offensive domination. Walpole outscored their opponent seven to one in the second half with the ball being on Marblehead’s side of the field for the majority of minutes.
Through the first eleven minutes of the half, Walpole extended their lead to 11-5 with goals from Weber, Foley and Curtis — all having multiple point games.
For the rest of the game, Walpole held the majority of possession time. The team managed to score four more goals before time ran out, and only allowed Marblehead to gain one consolation goal in the final minute.
With the win, Walpole won the Division Two State Semifinal and advanced to play in the State Final against the winner of Groton-Dunstable and Norwell. The championship title game will be at Boston University’s Nickerson Field on Saturday, June 18, at a time to be determined.
“The girls picked the best time to play their best game. They played terrific lacrosse in every phase of the game. We will need a repeat performance this Saturday, regardless of who we face. If we do so, we will be a difficult team to beat,” said Head Coach Mike Tosone.
