Chelmsford Girls Lacrosse Loses 18-14 to Lexington

Chelmsford’s girls lacrosse team played and fought hard Tuesday morning against Lexington High School (4-2) at Lincoln Field, but ultimately the Lions lost 18-14.

“We didn’t take care of the ball,” CHS coach Mike Marshall said. “We didn’t win enough draws, we didn’t win enough ground balls, and if we don’t get possession we have a hard time … so we just got to, like I talked about with the kids, do the little things. And if we can win draws and gain possession and not throw balls away or make bad passes or force balls, we’ll be fine.

“We forced the ball too much. We made too many turnovers,” Marshall continued.

Lexington’s largest lead over Chelmsford was six goals, which the Minutemen reached four different times, at 8-2, 10-4, 15-9 and 18-12. But every time, Chelmsford rallied back for a score.

The Lions were down 8-2 with 5:16 remaining in the first half. Lexington’s freshman attacker Fiona Fitzgerald ran up the field and threw to senior attacker Amanda Bouchard (five goals) for the score.

Chelmsford’s senior attacker Natalie Goodman retaliated with 4:37 left when she scored on sophomore goalie Maya Elany. Goodman came from behind the net, maneuvering a spin from the left of the crease.

But Lexington followed up when senior captain attacker Meghan McNabb (10 goals), put the team’s 9^th goal in with 59 seconds left.

At the half, Marshall told his team to, “Take care of the little things; that’s what I always tell them, ‘Take care of the little things and we’ll be alright.' "

“We got back within, I think, four at one point or even three, and it just, we just, you can’t make mistakes (and) you can’t turn the ball over in a crucial situation. And if you do – I don’t know how many goals (Meghan McNabb) had. She had to have at least eight or nine goals.”

In the first two minutes of the second half, Bouchard scored off an assist from senior attacker/defender Mackenzie Cyr, putting Lexington’s lead to 10-4. But Chelmsford began playing with momentum and once again shortened Lexington’s lead to four at 13-9 with 16:23 left to play.

20 seconds later, Bouchard had a breakaway attempt up the center, but her shot bounced off of the goalkeepers stick in a good play.

McNabb made two back-to-back goals for Lexington at 15:03 and 13:45, adding the Minutemen’s 14^th and 15^th goals, bumping the team’s lead to 15-10.

Chelmsford’s junior midfielder Katrina Squeri diminished the Minutemen’s lead to four at 11:07, but Lexington’s junior attacker/defender Sarah Lehman then put the team back to a five-goal lead.

Around the seven-minute marker, Lexington began holding the ball in Chelmsford’s defensive end before swatting in two more goals at 5:15 and 3:47. Chelmsford scored the final two, at 3:24 and 2:33, but they ended up falling.

Next up, Chelmsford hosts Arlington High School on Friday at 10 a.m.

In preparation for the match-up, Marshall said, “We have to work on, at the end of the game, pressuring out. I know that for a fact. And like I said, we have to win ground balls. You got to win possessions. Maintain possessions and we’re going to be fine.”

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