Medfield 14, Holliston 4: Panthers Girls Lax Falls Flat Against Warriors

Ali Slyne scored a team-high three goals, but the Holliston girls lacrosse team was unable to fend off an offensive outburst from visiting Tri-Valley League rival Medfield in a 14-4 loss Sunday afternoon.

 “It’s pretty much what I expected,” said Holliston head coach Chris Keiley. “My leading scorer (Vicky Sostilio) was out, I have an attack playing goalie, and I had two defenders out. But no excuses, they’re a better team than we are.”

The Panthers (4-8) gave up two quick goals in the first few minutes of the game before Slyne scored her first goal of the game, cutting the deficit to one.

After that, the Warriors (14-2) never let up, scoring four unanswered goals to take a 6-1 lead. Slyne netted her second score of the game after that to bring Holliston within four, but Medfield tacked on four more goals to take a 10-2 lead into halftime.

“We came out here and knew from the beginning that they were going to come out and fight hard,” said Medfield head coach Jason Heim. “I know they’re down a little, but we’re at the end of the season and they aren’t tournament-bound. I knew that they were missing a couple key players, too, which I think helped us out.”

Medfield drew first blood in the second half, as Alex McDevitt scored to put the Warriors on top, 11-2. Unfortunately, Warriors goaltender Sarah Honan suffered an injury early in the half. Without hesitation, Keiley made the decision to call a timeout just so Heim could replace his goalie.

“It’s just a nice thing to see in a game like that – the other team looking out for the well-being of the kid,” said Heim. “There are situations you get into where some people aren’t as good.”

Ali Gold replaced Honan in net for the Warriors and was very effective down the stretch.

“She’s just an overall, all-around outstanding athlete,” Heim said of Honan. “She had some nice saves.”

With Gold’s solid play behind her, Molly Crabtree sealed the deal with three straight goals for the Warriors, giving her team a commanding 14-2 advantage.

Sarah Lindberg scored Holliston’s third goal on an assist from Slyne, who later netted her third and final goal, bringing the score to 14-4 in favor of Medfield.

 “My last goal – I was kind of surprised that went in,” Slyne said. “My other two, I just try to shoot wherever – they had a pretty good goalie – open spaces, top corners I try for.”

“She’s a great player,” Keiley said about Slyne. “She may not be the leading scorer on the team, but she’s the most talented player on the team, both ways.”

McDevitt and Katie Ott led the Warriors’ offensive attack, scoring three goals apiece. Kate Wasley and Emily Zlevor each scored two goals in the winning effort for Medfield.

“I think for the most part we played pretty good, but Medfield’s just a really good team” said Slyne. “We’ve been doing a lot better on defense, which is good, but we have a lot of new players up, so it’s kind of hard.”

Holliston, which has been set back by injuries, was forced to face Medfield with a limited bench.

“It was tough today, I only had two subs,” Keiley said. “Granted, it wasn’t a hot day, but still, to chase a team like that all day, it gets to you. They did a pretty good job, actually.”

The Panthers face Medway in their next game on Tuesday evening and will wrap up the season with a match against Algonquin on Wednesday.

“We have a very difficult schedule,” said Keiley. “We play Westwood twice, Hopkinton twice, Medfield twice. It’s difficult to make the tournament playing the type of schedule we have.”

Gethin Coolbaugh is a Sports Reporter for Holliston Patch. He can be reached at 774-279-1995 or at gethin.coolbaugh@yahoo.com. Follow him @GethinCoolbaugh on Twitter.