WENHAM — The St. Mary’s girls lacrosse team put together a complete effort on both sides of the ball Thursday afternoon, notching a 9-4 win over Catholic Central League foe Bishop Stang in the opening round of the CCL Cup at Gordon College.
It’s been a great stretch for the Spartans lately, as St. Mary’s has outscored their opponents 29-14 over its past two games behind a combination of solid defense and timely scoring.
“This whole season has been a bit of a struggle, but the entire team has really grown and it’s all starting to come together,” said St. Mary’s coach K.C. Butt. “I knew they had it in them the whole time, they just didn’t have the confidence yet. Now that they’re getting that confidence, things are starting to happen.”
Hannah Coleman paced the offense for the Spartans with three goals and two assists, while Molly Cummings was close behind with two goals. Makayla McGrath had a goal and an assist, while Jillian Kirby, Avery Laundry and Zoey Bozarjian each scored a goal.
On the defensive side, Caroline Nerich, Michelle Callahan, Reese Matela and Kiara LoNigro all played well. Goalie Peyton Quirk made 11 saves in net.
“I’m proud of the girls for how they’ve played all year, especially in some of the tougher games against teams like Austin Prep and others,” said Butt. “With Peyton leading the way in the back making save after save and everyone out in front playing well, it’s been great to see them grow over the course of the year.”
According to Butt, the offensive explosion in recent days is a result of the team really starting to gel and figure things out.
“We have a lot of eighth graders playing for us this year, and I think that’s why it took a little longer for us to really get going,” said Butt. “It’s been a learning curve for sure, but over the next year or two I think we’re going to be a completely different team.”
It was Stang that struck first in this one, scoring roughly five minutes into the first quarter to take a 1-0 lead.
But St. Mary’s answered back a minute later on a goal from Coleman, and the Spartans never trailed again.
St. Mary’s grabbed two goals in the second quarter — one each from Cummings and Coleman — to take a 3-1 lead into halftime, but then Stang answered back with a score early in the third quarter to make it a one-goal game.
Then the Spartans rattled off four unanswered goals — one each from Kirby, Bozarjian, Coleman and McGrath — to blow the game open and take a 7-2 lead. Stang scored once before the end of the third and then again to start the fourth quarter, but St. Mary’s killed the rally with goals from Cummings and Laundry within a minute of each other to seal the win.
St. Mary’s now moves on to its toughest test of the season, going up against No. 1 seed Bishop Feehan Friday (TBD) back at Gordon College.
“Obviously we know it’s going to be a tough test, and Feehan is a great team, but this is all a part of us building toward the future,” said Butt. “We’re excited to see what we can do against them, and hopefully we can keep the season going.”