First-year coach Mike Boyle watched his Londonderry High girls’ lacrosse squad catapult itself over the .500 mark with a pair of impressive victories late
last week.
The now 6-4 Lady
Lancers were some 21 goals better than a Manchester opponent on the road last Friday, May 3, and after spotting the rival Pinkerton Academy Lady Astros three early goals the next afternoon at LHS, coach Boyle’s bunch came roaring back to defeat that top-ranked opponent by a full handful of tallies.
The Lady Lancers made hay while the sun shone brightly on struggling Manchester Memorial’s home field in the first of those matches in a 23-2 demolition of that host. Londonderry led by a commanding 16-2 margin at halftime, and then proceeded to outscore the Lady Crusaders by a 7-0 tally in the second half.
The LHS crew peppered the Memorial net with 37 shots and received points from Chelsea Lewis (3 with 4 assists), Julia Wasserman (5 goals, one assist), Noelle Lambert (1 goal, 4 assists), Hannah Kearney (2 goals, 2 assists), Sarah Bell (2 goals, 2 assists), Dominique Breault (3 goals), Molly Koon (2 goals, one assist), Maeve Holland (1 goal, 2 assists), Gabbi Morris (2 goals), Colleen Kennedy, and Jenna Conroy (1 goal each).
The win allowed the Lady Lancers to move their 2013 record up over that .500 mark to 5-4.
And the team’s 11-6 defeat of a 9-1 Pinkerton squad that came into last Saturday’s match having won eight contests in a row might just prove to be a watershed victory for the Londonderry crew.
Pinkerton potted three goals in the first 4:26 of the game to snag a fine, 3-0 advantage.
But the Lady Lancers then burst to life, minimizing the Lady Astros’ offensive opportunities at just about every turn and outscoring the visitors by an 11-3 margin through the rest of the contest. Senior goalie Sarah Ford played a vital role in the defensive process and finished the match with six saves.
When asked after the game if he’d done anything strategically or positionally different with his players after falling behind by three goals, coach Boyle responded, “I’m still a first-year coach, and I’m still learning when I have to just let them play. I just need to let the girls settle in and play their game, and that’s what they did.”
The hosts knotted the score at 3-3 with consecutive goals from Wasserman, Alexa Bedell, and Holland in a span of just 4:04 to knot the score, but Pinkerton would slip back into the lead with 11:50 left in the first half when Kennedy Daziel scored. However, that would be the last lead the Lady Astros would enjoy on this day, as Londonderry scored three more times in the opening period (Lambert twice, Bedell once) as the LHS crew carried a 6-4 advantage and a head of steam to halftime.
The Londonderry lead would grow to 8-4 on goals by Bedell and Holland in the first four minutes of the second half, and the continued strong defensive play of coach Boyle’s bunch negated any serious comeback attempts put forth by PA.
Lambert finished with four goals and one assist, Bedell bagged three goals, and Holland and Wasserman each nabbed two in a victory which showed the host Lady Lancers that they can certainly knock off a high-ranking opponent like Pinkerton and do it more than a little impressively as well.