Offensively Efficient, CCHS Girls Lacrosse Downs Arlington

’s girls lacrosse team was the model of efficiency in the first half against Arlington High School. The Patriots were like an assembly line, passing the ball up the field until the job was finished at the other end.

That resulted in a 10-goal halftime lead that C-C turned into a 19-12 victory, returning to the winner’s circle after losing its first game of the season the last time out.

“In the first half we spread the ball around and it doesn’t matter if you win by one or 30,” C-C coach Paul Morrison said of the cut-and-dry win over the Spy Ponders. “Offensively, we spread the ball around and defensively we got a little discombobulated in the second half.”

Co-captains Lindsay Cook and Jamie Potter paced the Patriots (9-1) with four goals apiece. Jill Carlton added three scores and two assists, while Becca Olsen and Jessie Castelline scored both scored twice and assisted on another.

Caroline Donelan, Kate Wyeth, Katie Vogel and Allie Barrett all scored once.

In all, nine Patriots put the ball past Arlington goalie Carolyn Woodin and with great frequency.

It seemed not a minute went by in the first half without Concord-Carlisle adding to its total. In fact, the Patriots’ largest drought of the first half lasted 6 minutes, 10 seconds, between a Potter score with 19:50 remaining and Wyeth’s goal with 13:40 to go.

Other than that, the Patriots moved the up and down the field at will, scoring many of their goals in transition.

In an especially dominating stretch, C-C scored three goals in the final two minutes before the horn. Vogel started the flurry with 1:34 to go, Wyeth kept it going with her second of the game and Olsen capped the run with less than 30 seconds remaining.

“You know, we dominated the game,” Morrison said. “We were getting odd-man rushes and, in the midfield, we didn’t drop the ball a lot, we made a lot of long passes and smart passes. The key to this game is possessing the ball and that’s what we did.”

After each scored twice in the opening four minutes of the second half, goals were traded back and forth for much of the next 11 minutes. However, the Spy Ponders showed late life by tallying four of the game’s final six scores.

Overall, Mary Grace Cronin scored a game-high five goals to go with one assist. She scored four in the second half. Colleen Kane added a hat trick for Arlington. Emily Nugent, Shannon Curran and Molly Cleveland each scored once.

Despite numerous defensive lapses in the second half, Morrison said he was still pleased with how the Patriots bounced back from losing to Lincoln-Sudbury. That’s especially true since the win over Arlington clinched C-C a spot in the upcoming MIAA D-1 North tournament.

“We really when with a lot of different combinations on the field,” Morrison said, of the second half. “It’s a feel-good type of game. You’re up by a lot and you want to get girls a lot of minutes and I started moving (players around). I take as much responsible as anyone for us being a little discombobulated in the second half.”

Greta White started the game in net for the Patriots and made 12 stops. Normally the No. 2 goalie, she got the starting nod because top goalie Melissa Mariano was out with a hand injury.

Now, Morrison said, C-C’s focus is to earn as high a seed as possible for the postseason. The next step in achieving that goal will come against DCL foe Wayland High School at home on Friday afternoon.