Lexington Girls Lacrosse Lose Second in a Row; Fall to Reading, 13-12

A game that saw eight ties came down to the final 58 seconds of play.

girls lacrosse team was down by one goal against top rival on Monday at . Lexington senior tri-captain Catherine Dugan was chasing Reading’s Kate DeBenedetto up the right wing in Lexington’s territory. DeBenedetto passed behind the goal, allowing the Rockets to shave time off the clock, but the Minutemen were doubling and tripling Reading, prying for a steal.

There was a scuffle between Lexington and Reading’s Emily Collins as Collins dropped a pass, but she was able to secure the ball back in her stick for the throw to a teammate for the shot.

Lexington sophomore goalie Maya Elany saved the attempt, but the end of the game had come. Lexington lost its second in a row by one goal, falling 13-12 to drop its record to 1-2 on the young season.

“I thought today was more kind of us beating ourselves,” said LHS coach Kerry Richmond. “Reading is a very good team and you have to play clean lacrosse in order to win, and we made a lot of mental mistakes at points.

“But then again, we overcame those mistakes to get it back within one in the last minute and a half,” Richmond continued. “That’s good for the girls; never gave up, which is a good sign early on. We have a team that does want to win and does want to play hard every minute.”

Reading’s Beckie Matheson (three goals) got the game going, scoring at 24:42 of the first period. And although there was a back-and-forth manner of scoring between teams, the wind, gusting about 20 miles per hour, was on Reading’s side and seemingly affecting Lexington’s passes. The Minutemen dropped a number of them, opening opportunities for turnovers and scoring chances for Reading.

Reading’s Christine Johnson (seven goals) used the wind’s force and Lexington’s fumbles to her advantage when she grabbed a failed Lexington pass at 4:12 and bolted up for a score, putting the Rockets behind by just one at 7-6. Then, with 57 seconds left in the first half, Johnson again capitalized on a turnover to tie the game at 7-all

“Second half was definitely better than the first half,” Richmond said. “As I told the kids, I think we were asleep for part of the first half and I think that was what kind of hurt us in the end, was just digging us out of a hole the entire time.”

The final 25 minutes were just as competitive as the first, with both teams gunning for control. But with the game tied at 10-all with 9:10 remaining, after a Bridgett Everett goal, play became more aggressive.

Reading’s Matheson got the ball past Elany, but it was waved off after referees considered it a dangerous goal, as Lexington junior Allie Forlenza, defending the shot in the crease among a few other Minutemen, was knocked down.

“(I) look at it as one piece of the whole part of [the game],” Richmond said. “That there’s not just one incident that either caused us not to win the game or didn’t cause us.

“I said to the girls, ‘You know, it’s a 50-minute game and … you got to play hard the entire time,” Richmond continued.

Both teams carried play full out, but Lexington was losing connection as Reading was blowing up.

At 8:43, Lexington senior tri-captain Meghan McNabb (five goals) received a yellow card for slashing. At 8:15 Johnson threw in another score for Reading, putting the Rockets ahead, 11-10. At 5:38, Reading pushed its advantage to a two-goal lead with a Sarah Lautman score (two goals).

Nine seconds later, Reading extended its lead to three when Johnson broke straight away up the center through every Lexington player and slung the shot.

The Minutemen did come back from 13-10 with a score a few seconds later, scoring again with 4:23 remaining and netting their final goal with 58 seconds left, but Lexington’s final attempts couldn’t beat the clock and the Minutemen were beaten, 13-12.

For the Minutmen, senior Amanda Bouchard scored four goals, while senior tri-captain Diana Hines and freshman Fiona Fitzgerald made one apiece.

Next up, Lexington hosts on Wednesday at 3:45 p.m., and Richmond said the team came out of Monday’s loss with momentum of what to work on in the days leading up.

“Tightening up the defense a little bit," Richmond said of the keys for the team moving forwad. "Continue to work on fighting for the 50-50 balls. Going in with a mentality that we can keep up with such a big team.”

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