SWAMPSCOTT — Despite giving up a five-goal lead over the final 15 minutes of the game, the Swampscott girls lacrosse team ended up scoring two goals in the final six minutes to survive with an 11-10 win over Northeastern Conference foe Peabody at Blocksidge Field Thursday afternoon.
“Every year when we play Peabody, both games are like this,” said Swampscott coach Jillian Robinson. “That’s a strong, smart team and every year they come to play. It’s always a mental test as much as a physical one, and our girls were able to come out with a well-deserved win.”
Broghan Laundry led the offensive charge for Swampscott with five goals and one assist, while Elizabeth Green had two goals and one assist. Scarlett Ciciotti scored two goals, while Harper Clopton and Reese Robertson each scored one goal.
For Peabody, Amber Kiricoples (five goals, three assists) and Hailie Lomasney (five goals, two assists) combined to score all the goals for the Tanners. Hailey Baker added three assists in the loss, while Emily McDonough had one assist.
“I think we were rushing things in the first half and that got us behind, but in the second half we were winning it 7-1 at one point,” said Peabody coach Dennis Desroches. “But then we had a big turnover and a draw loss, and they got right back in it. The turnovers got to us. Swampscott is an excellent attack team, and you can’t give them the ball like that.”
While the score may have been 11-10 at the final buzzer, both coaches agreed that defense and goaltending were key for both sides in the game. Swampscott goalie Sasha Divall had 13 saves for the Big Blue, while Olivia Lavalle made 18 saves for the Tanners.
“Sasha has come a long way for us in the three years she’s been here,” said Robinson. “This is her first year starting varsity and she’s stepped up big. And I can’t say enough about our defense. Dennis is a smart coach and they were able to break down our zone, but the girls were able to switch to man-to-man over the final minutes to shut them down.”
“We played some great defense tonight and Olivia Lavalle shut the door on some big shots,” said Desroches. “Those saves allowed us to get back going the other way, and that was key.”
It was an up and down game for both teams. Peabody got things started about five minutes into the game, with Kiricoples scoring an unassisted goal to give the Tanners a 1-0 lead.
Swampscott answered back a little more than a minute later on a goal from Laundry, and the Big Blue went on to rattle off four more goals in a row to jump out to a 5-1 lead early in the second quarter.
Peabody responded with two goals from Lomasney over the final 10 minutes of the half, but the Big Blue got two goals from Robertson and one more from Ciciotti to take an 8-3 lead into the halftime break.
Peabody came out and scored the first goal of the second half thanks to Kiricoples, but Swampscott answered back on a goal from Laundry a few minutes later.
Then, things flipped.
Trailing 9-4 with five minutes left in the third, Peabody went on a 6-0 run over the next nine minutes of game time to grab a 10-9 lead — its first lead since the opening minutes of the game.
Unfortunately for the Tanners, things stalled from there. A few costly turnovers led to scoring chances for Swampscott, and the Big Blue didn’t disappoint. Green tied the game up at 10-10 on a goal with 6:18 to play before Clopton scored the eventual game-winning goal with 5:10 to go in the game.
Peabody (2-1) has another tough test with a road game against Masconomet Monday (4).
Swampscott (4-0) plays on the road at Danvers Monday (4).