PEABODY — It wasn’t easy, but a late offensive surge lifted the Lynnfield girls lacrosse team to a 7-5 win over Bishop Fenwick at Donaldson Stadium Monday.
“We struggled and it was sloppy,” Lynnfield coach Ethan Blanchette said. “The officials let the girls play for the most part which I like. We struggled with our shot placement and Bishop Fenwick’s goalie (Abby Booth) played well. We hit her a bunch of times and helped her a bit but she played awesome. Our shot selection wasn’t always great but it was better in the second half.”
After scoring just two goals in the first 30 minutes, the Pioneers ended the game on a 5-2 run to seal the victory. Tori Morelli led the way with two goals and one assist while Jen Flynn also added a pair of goals. Ashley Barrett, Olivia Sarni and Shannon Pierce each scored one goal.
Blanchette credits the Pioneers’ defense for stepping up start to finish in front of goalkeeper Grace Magno (seven saves).
“Our defense played well,” Blanchette said. “Our team is structured around the defense. We play a little bit more of a controlled, defensively-minded style of lacrosse. Grace made a bunch of saves. Whenever your save percentage is around 50 percent, that’s a great game. We wanted to pressure the ball in the second half. I thought we could cause some turnovers and we did.”
Needing a win to keep their state tournament hopes alive, the Crusaders came to play but just couldn’t close out the win. Fenwick battled from start to finish with Paige Littlehale leading the defensive unit and Booth racking up 11 saves.
“I thought we played a fantastic game top to bottom,” Crusaders coach Joel McKenna said. “We made a couple of mistakes with the ball towards the end of the game and that was the difference. We’re a young team and we’re learning.”
Madison Woods scored two goals with one assist while Cailyn Wesley also scored two goals. Karina Gyllenhaal scored one goal. Jenna Durkin and Julia Barnes each had one assist.
“It’s a heartbreaker for a lot of these girls,” McKenna said. “I like the fact that it means a lot to them to put themselves in the best position possible and improve from last year. Something we’ve preached all year is having high expectations for yourself. This past week we have been focusing on keeping our expectations aggressive. That didn’t stop.”
Flynn (five faceoff wins) took the opening faceoff to help the Pioneers get started on offense. A few minutes later, Morelli took advantage of a Crusaders turnover, scooping up a ground ball and scoring to give Lynnfield a 1-0 lead.
But the Crusaders responded with back-to-back goals just a few minutes later. Gyllenhaal got Fenwick started with a goal on a corner opportunity to tie things up at 1-1. On the following faceoff, Durkin scooped up a ground ball and swung a pass to Woods, who found the back of the net to give the Crusaders a 2-1 lead.
Flynn took advantage of a corner opportunity midway through the first half, scoring to tie the game up at 2-2 before halftime.
The second half saw four lead changes as both teams exchanged runs. The Crusaders missed chances on two early corner opportunities but Woods made up for the second one, scooping up a loose ball before finding the back of the net to put Fenwick on top 3-2.
Lynnfield answered with two straight goals. Flynn scored on another corner opportunity while Barrett added a goal just over three minutes later to give the Pioneers a 4-3 lead.
Fenwick put together one last push midway through the second half. Wesley made a nice move to the net to score and just under a minute later added a second goal to give the Crusaders a 5-4 lead.
It didn’t take long for Lynnfield to answer. Pierce added a goal just 30 seconds later and Morelli added what would prove to be the game winner next to give the Pioneers a late 6-5 lead.
Sarni added a big insurance goal to stretch the lead to 7-5 and allow Lynnfield to eat away the rest of the clock.
The win closes out a 11-7 season for the Pioneers, who will now wait for tournament seeding to be announced.
“I think we should get a home state tournament game,” Blanchette said. “We’ve actually beaten eight tournament teams this season, which is by far the most we have ever beaten. That’s factored into tournament seeding so I think we should be in good shape for a home game.”
The Crusaders (7-10) will play their final game of the season Wednesday (4) at Arlington Catholic.