Wildcats Fall To Falcons, 17-6

For the first few minutes it certainly looked like the Bethel High girls lacrosse team would hold its own against the previously unbeaten Joel Barlow Falcons, but after 20 minutes of back-and-forth play, the Wildcats (1-4, 1-4) let up and the Falcons took over.

With the first half coming to an end, Bethel’s Laura Steinmetz notched her second goal of the game to pull her team to within one. With the Wildcats threatening, the Falcons quickly seized control, they scored three times in the final 75 seconds and never looked back while cruising to a 17-6 win.

“We were lacking in fundamentals, groundballs, catching and throwing, we weren’t hustling to the ground balls, Joel Barlow beat us to everyone,” Coach Shelly DeSisto said. “We did stick with them in the first half, but in the end it was ground balls and catching which was disappointing, but it’s still early in the season.”

While the Wildcats were losing control, Barlow took advantage of every opportunity they were given. They converted on Bethel’s turnovers and made the most of their free position opportunities.

“They have some great shooters,” DeSisto said. “We have a great goalie, but it’s tough to defend the free shot, and when they know how to draw the foul, they’re gonna take advantage of those.”

Stephanie Forese finished with 12 saves in net, but was no match for the Falcons who consistently won ground balls and controlled the draws to dominate possession.

“It’s a game of possession and if you can hold onto the ball and wait for the right shot, it’s basically make it-take it,” DeSisto said. “You make the goal, you control the draw, you’re gonna keep the ball the whole game.”

Among the few bright spots for the Wildcats was Steinmetz, who finished with three goals and was able to create chances of her own off of the draw.

“Laura is one of our stud midfielders,” DeSisto said. “She’s actually been really ill for the last couple of days so we actually started her on low-d today so she wouldn’t have to run full field, but she had a few really nice fast break plays. She has a great shot, she has a great handle with the stick, she’s definitely one of my leader seniors.”

Serina Ghio scored twice for the Wildcats while Sam Davenport added a goal of her own.

Despite the loss, there are positives for the Wildcats to build off of if they can get back to the way they played in the first half. They opened the game by controlling the ball for the first 10 minutes, and even scored first before things began to unravel in the second half.

“In the first half I liked our patience on offense, we were waiting for the right cut,” DeSisto said. “I liked our defense, we were sticking with players, we were doubling when we needed to and we were playing good defense in the midfield on transition. I think some of my midfielders started to get tired, and that’s when I saw that defense waver a little bit. We don’t have that deep of a bench which hurts us, especially in the second half.”

Bethel’s next game is Tuesday at Newtown at 4 p.m. The next home game is Wednesday against Notre Dame-Fairfield at 5 p.m.