PEABODY — It took 50 minutes plus three overtimes, but a Codi Butt goal in sudden-death overtime gave the St. Mary’s girls lacrosse team a 10-9 win over Bishop Fenwick at Donaldson Stadium Wednesday afternoon. With the win, the Spartans sweep the season series with Fenwick for the first time in program history.
“Obviously it’s a really big win for us because we’ve never done this,” St. Mary’s coach K.C. Butt said. “I think wanting to win this game got into our heads a little bit at some points, but the girls played good, clean lacrosse and made the adjustments they needed to to win.”
Codi Butt led the Spartans with six goals, including both St. Mary’s goals in the overtime periods. Kate Gray had two goals, Mady Hentosh had one goal and one assist and Megan Parthum had one goal.
For Fenwick, Cailyn Wesley and Fran Carpinella each had three goals, while Rachel Boylan, Brynn Bertucci and Brigid Waldron each had one goal.
It was an up-and-down game for both sides. The Spartans jumped out to a quick five-goal lead in the first half, but the Crusaders were able to battle back from that deficit to tie the game by the middle of the second half. The Crusaders took their first lead of the game in the first overtime period, but St. Mary’s tied it in the second overtime. For both sides, mental toughness was a huge component.
“I was a little unsettled with the up-and-down play, to be honest,” K.C. Butt said. “They just got away from playing the kind of lacrosse I know they can play. But it was hot, and things got emotional out there at times.”
“I was just very impressed with the way our team kept competing no matter what, even when calls weren’t going our way and when we had key players out of the game,” Fenwick coach Lindsey Congdon said. “There was just a ton of hustle and heart on both ends of the field today.”
The Spartans jumped out to an early 5-0 lead 10 minutes into the first half. Four of the goals came from Codi Butt, while Parthum netted the fifth. After a goal from Wesley put Fenwick on the board with 11 minutes left in the half, there was an almost 10-minute drought. Gray finally broke the drought for St. Mary’s with just under two minutes to go, but Fenwick was able to take a little bit of momentum into halftime after goals by Bertucci and Carpinella in the final minute brought the score to 6-3 St. Mary’s.
Fenwick’s Boylan made it 6-4 less than four minutes into play. Gray responded with a goal a few minutes later to get the Spartans’ lead back to two goals, but then Fenwick went on a three-goal run behind tallies from Carpinella, Wesley and Waldron to tie the score at 7-7. The intensity picked up in regulation’s final minutes, and Hentosh was able to put St. Mary’s back on top with 4:46 to go. But Fenwick never let up, as Carpinella found the back of the net with just 2:24 to go tying the score at 8-8. Fenwick had one final opportunity to score when Carpinella earned a free position shot just a few yards from the St. Mary’s goal with only nine seconds remaining. Carpinella had a clean look at the net and made a good shot, but Spartans goalie Lauren Vaccaro made a big save, forcing overtime.
“She’s just unbelievable out there,” K.C. Butt said of Vaccaro. “Whether it’s lacrosse or hockey, watching her perform in net is something special.”
For overtime, the teams play two three-minute periods back-to-back with no break. If the score is still tied after those periods, a sudden-death period is played. These two teams needed it all.
First, it was Fenwick who grabbed the lead on a Wesley goal with only two seconds left in the first overtime. The Crusaders almost held on all the way through the second overtime, but a Codi Butt backhanded goal with 1:44 to go tied the score up again and forced sudden death. Just a few minutes into that period, after stealing the ball at midfield, Codi Butt once again found the back of the net to give St. Mary’s the win.
St. Mary’s (6-6) hosts Austin Prep Monday. Fenwick (3-8) plays Arlington Catholic Monday.