Lexington Girls Lacrosse Beats Wakefield, 16-6

A 16-6 win is a pretty start to a season, but the weather on Tuesday afternoon was nothing but ugly. girls’ lacrosse team (1-0) beat (0-1) during 45-degree weather with wind whipping rain pellets onto the field, as well as turning umbrellas inside out at Lexington’s .

But, the atrocious weather didn’t seem to nerve the Minutemen, especially the eight returning seniors, six of whom were on the field.

“The seniors pretty much were in control today offensively and defensively,” said LHS coach Kerry Richmond.

Amanda Bouchard racked up six goals, while Megan McNabb scored four and Fiona Fitzgerald and Bridgett Everett put in three apiece. 

“It was a good game,” continued Richmond. “It was a nice win, nice way to open up the season.”

Lexington held a 5-0 lead at just 16:38, less than 10 minutes into play, after its explosive offense was bolting down field, weaving between Warrior players and hammering shots.

The Minutemen scored their five in a matter of about five minutes—22:37, 20:58, 19:48, 18:40, 17:33 and 16:53—before Wakefield senior captain Kate Nixon (five goals) got the ball past Lexington sophomore goalie Maya Elany at 16:38, putting the Warriors on the board.

“First game at the varsity level,” Richmond said of Elany. “Corey Michon is hurt right now, so (Elany) thrown into the fire.” 

Lexington added six more goals to Wakefield’s two going into the half, upping its advantage to an eight-goal lead at 11-3. 

“The focus of today’s game was to really work on spreading out on offense, kind of getting the feel for being in a lacrosse game,” Richmond said. “I think we defensively started out a little bit weak and then by the end of it had picked up double-teaming and communication on defense. Overall by the end of the game, kind of everything that the girls had forgotten came back to them.” 

Wakefield’s offense intensified in the second half when Nixon added two more goals at 17:07 and 8:41. She pushed from Lexington’s defensive area to Wakefield’s attack, basically running right through the Minutemen to score.

But Nixon’s efforts, and junior Justine Carlson’s goal with 22 seconds remaining, the Warriors’ sixth, wasn’t enough and Lexington won by 10. 

Richmond was happy with the season-opening win over Wakefield, but noticed areas for strengthening and improvement.

 “Catching,” Richmond said. “Going back to basics, making sure that we can kind of catch on the run. Simplifying the game just a little bit for right now.

“We’re going to work a lot more on transition defense and overall offensively spreading out a little bit more.

“We have a big game (on Thursday),” she continued. “We play Winchester, which is a pretty huge game, so kind of tightening up some defense. It’s a game that the girls pretty much think of, you know is always one of the games of the season that they really like to try and go out and beat Winchester. 

“They usually win the Middlesex league, they’re one of the top teams in the state, so it’s always one thing you like to go out and hopefully have a good showing again.”

Next up, Lexington plays at on Thursday at 3:45 p.m.

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