Dedham Girls Lacrosse Showing Improvement

The Marauders girls lacrosse team hung tough against Natick Thursday evening, but ultimately fell to the Red and Blue 18-9 at Bridge St. Field at Nobles.

, who is still seeking its first win of the season, scored a season-high nine goals including a hat trick form captain Vanessa Robinson.

At times, the Marauders showed signs of greatness, scoring goals three and four at a time. Robinson credits the scoring flashes to the constant improvement that’s being shown throughout her team.

“We’ve come a long way from the beginning of the season when we weren’t even connecting our passes,” Robinson said. “Our communication has gotten a lot better on the field and we’ve grown a lot closer as a team. We know where each other is going to be and we are doing a lot better talking on the field.”

Natick jumped out of the gate with a 6-1 led midway through the first half, but Dedham battled back scoring three unanswered goals. Meaghan Dwan, Jodie Munchbach and Lauren Totino all put in goals to help narrow the gap to just two.

The Red and Blue answered right back however, outrunning Dedham and scoring three more goals of their own and taking a 9-4 lead into the half.

“Unfortunately we don’t really have any subs right now,” said Dedham coach Alison Reilley. “We have three or four injuries and no midfield subs. It would be nice to have some fresh legs and would make things a little easier for us.”

Dedham added five more goals in the second half but was outdone once again by Natick who had nine. Natick outshot the Marauders 32-14 and 15-7 in the second half.

Despite allowing a season-high 18 goals, nine on offense is something to be proud of, players said. The high-mark was seven goals.

“We’ve just been working really hard in practice,” said captain Meaghan Dwan. “We’re all dedicated and we keep our spirits up even in all the tough games we play. That’s what makes us better, playing against the tougher teams.”

Added Reilley, “We just have to focus on the fact that we can win and get over the mentality that it’s too difficult or its something that’s beyond us.” 

The Marauders have three more games remaining on their schedule and despite their winless record, everyone is enjoying themselves, having fun and extremely anxious to pick up the illusive first win.

“At this point, the girls are here because they love the sport, they like each other and they’re good teammates," said Reilley. “They always come in with a positive attitude and make practice enjoyable and I think they’re deserving, they just have to have the confidence and believe in themselves to move forward.”

Dwan said she feels the same way and understands that confidence and consistency are the keys to winning.

“We get down on ourselves when we turn the ball over and we get back up when we do something good so we just have to stay consistent and have confidence in out abilities,” said Dwan. “We really just want to win, especially the games that are winnable games. We play Brookline and Milton soon and I think we can compete with both of them.”

Next for the Marauders, before Brookline and Milton, comes 8-2 Newton North, who outscored Natick 22-19 on Tuesday.