Rams Girls Lacrosse Rallies to Win SCC Title; First Since 2006

Cheshire junior Alyssa Hague streaked down the middle of the field with Daniel Hand defenders in pursuit and one thing in her sight — the Hand goal.

With the score tied at 8 and 1 minute, 43 seconds left, Hague was pushed about 10 yards in front of the goal before she got a shot off and was awarded a free position shot. She wasn't going to be denied.

Hague set up for the shot, rushed toward the goal and instead of putting the ball up
high as she often does, bounced it past Hand goalie Christy Forrest for the game winner in a 9-8 victory in the Southern Connecticut Conference girls lacrosse championship game at Branford High School Friday afternoon.

"That was one of those things, you have to move in quickly and avoid as many sticks as possible," said Hague, who finished with a hat trick and was named Most
Outstanding Player. "Lately, (coach Dan Warburton) has been telling us to
go for more bounce shots because it works on (Forrest) because she's really
good up high."

The teams have met for the past three SCC titles with Cheshire winning its first
conference championship since 2006.

The Cheshire boys (10-9) dropped an 11-1 decision to Fairfield Prep in the first
game of the championship doubleheader.

The Cheshire girls (16-3) trailed 7-5 at halftime and went down another goal just
43 seconds into the second half when Hannah Morgan scored her fourth goal of
the game with an assist from MaryKate McNulty (one goal, four assists).

Then the Rams defense tightened up and Hand never scored again.

"We knew we were a much better defensive team than we showed in the first half," Warburton said. "If we came out in the second half and played like we were capable of playing we could make something happen. I'm not sure we would have held them to one (goal), but it starts with defense. That's what won it for us, our defense."

Cheshire's rally began with a score by Hague, who made an elusive move up the middle and fired a shot in close to make it 8-6 with 20:48 left in the game. Kathleen Kalbian, who also had a hat trick, then made a quick move of her own directly on goal to cut Hand's lead one with 15:56 left.

The equalizer came with 9:56 left on a bouncer by senior Jess Sudock. After that
score, Hand had possession for nearly four minutes but couldn't penetrate the
Rams' defense. Cheshire played its marking man-to-man but often slid two
players on the ball for a double team and didn't allow any openings.

"That was so nerve-wracking," Hague said. "Our defense did so well. We held
them for excellent lengths of time."

"The first half I think everybody was so afraid not to make a mistake that they
were, instead of sliding like we do, they were sticking with their own player," Warburton said. "Halftime we just said, 'Is that really helping us? We've given up seven goals in the first half. Just believe in what we've done and play our defense.' In the second half, that's what you saw."

Cheshire only earned possession a couple of times in the final 8:30 as Hand (16-3) controlled the ball but the Tigers looked stagnant on offense and the Rams were on a roll offensively when they touched the ball. Cheshire goalie Ashley Zane made just
three saves but one big one late in the game.

"That game could have gone either way," Warburton said. "We've played three times this year, this one was by one goal, the first was overtime, the one in the middle was 9-9 with two minutes to go. It was really the flip of a coin today. We just managed to come out on top this time."

"Words can't even describe it. I'm so excited," Hague said. "We really deserve this. The third time's the charm for us."

In the boys game, John Cunningham scored with 3:37 left in the first period to tie
it at 1. Then Prep (15-4) scored 10 consecutive goals to dominate the rest of the game. Henry Brown had three goals and three assists and Connor Kelly had a
hat trick for Prep.

"Five or six penalties in the second quarter, we're a man down," Cheshire head
coach Rich Pulisciano said. "You can't be in the penalty box, you've got to stay out of the penalty box with this team. We didn't play smart today. If you don't play well and make mistakes against a team like that, they're going to take advantage of it."

The boys team plays a qualifying game Saturday at Danbury in the CIAC Class L
tournament.

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