Lexington Lacrosse Beats Chelmsford, 18-14

It was another lovely spring day at Lexington’s Tuesday morning – 47 degrees with comforting rain and wind. But the dampness didn’t affect the girls’ lacrosse team, which defeated Chelmsford High School, 18-14, in close battle.

“I think at this point (the weather doesn’t affect us),” said LHS coach Kerry Richmond. “Because we’ve played in some sort of rainy, cold weather that, by this point, I think they’re pretty much used to it.

“I think it did get, definitely a little more physical at some points,” continued Richmond. “So I think that was probably a little piece of it.”

The largest lead for the Minutemen (4-2) was six goals, which they reached four different times, at 8-2, 10-4, 15-9 and 18-12. But Chelmsford rallied back for a score each time.

“I don’t think we were consistent,” Richmond said. “There were moments where we kind of took a little breather. Their goal has been kind of a consistent 50-minute game and we didn’t do that today. But (I) was definitely happy with the end, being able to maintain possession and coming out with the win.”

Lexington was ahead 8-2 with 5 minutes, 16 seconds remaining in the first half. Freshman attacker Fiona Fitzgerald ran up the field and passed to senior attacker Amanda Bouchard (five goals) for the score.

Chelmsford senior attacker Natalie Goodman retaliated with 4:37 left when she scored on Lexington sophomore goalie Maya Elany. Goodman came from behind the net, executing a spin move from the left of the crease.

From the sideline, Richmond encouraged her team to win the ensuing draw to stem the Lions’ rally. And with that boost, Lexington senior captain attacker Meghan McNabb (10 goals) put the team’s 9th goal in with 59 seconds left before halftime.

In the first two minutes of the second half, Bouchard scored off an assist from senior attacker/defender Mackenzie Cyr, putting Lexington’s lead at 10-4. But Chelmsford began playing with momentum, and once again, shortened Lexington’s lead to four at 13-9 with 16:23 left to play.

Less than a minute later, Bouchard had a breakaway attempt up the middle of the field, but her shot bounced off of the goalkeeper’s stick for a nice save.

McNabb scored back-to-back goals for Lexington at 15:03 and 13:45, adding the Minutemen’s 14th and 15th goals and bumping the team’s lead to 15-10.

Chelmsford junior midfielder Katrina Squeri then shrank the Minutemen’s lead to four at 11:07, but Lexington’s junior attacker/defender Sarah Lehman quickly put her team back up by five.

Around the seven-minute mark, Lexington began holding the ball in Chelmsford’s defensive end before notching two more goals at 5:15 and 3:47. Chelmsford scored the final two, at 3:24 and 2:33, but Lexington held on for the win.

Next up, the Minutemen are looking for their fifth win of the season at Acton-Boxborough Regional High School at 3 p.m. on Wednesday.

“We don’t have much time to work on anything… but again, kind of reinforce the defense footwork and the movement on the defensive end,” Richmond said of what the team will work on for the matchup with A-B. “And then being a little smarter with the ball when we have the ball and not throwing it away.”