Mansfield Girls' Lacrosse Can't Hold on Against King Philip

With a little under 10 minutes to play, the Hornets were in the driver's seat with a three goal lead over the King Philip Warriors during a game where both teams were fortunate to be ahead at all. As fast as Mansfield got the momentum, it quickly went back to the Warriors as KP ended the game on a 4 goal run to win 11-10 against their Hockomock League foe.

Staring the game down 2-0, goals from Lauren Beecher (2 goals), Jessica Buckley (2 goals), and a pair from Meghan Delang (4 goals) helped the Hornets climb back to tie the game at 4-4 with 8:59 left in the first half.

30 seconds later, a goal from Beecher from about five yards away gave Mansfield their first lead at 5-4 but Jennifer Lacroix (2 goals) responded at 6:06 to tie the game again.

With five minutes left in the half, Delang's wraparound goal put the Hornets ahead 6-5 going into the half but no lead was safe with four ties alone in the first half.

Tied at 6-6 in the second half, the Hornets went on a 4-1 run to take a 10-7 lead with about 10 minutes to play. 

Delang started the run with a goal to take back the lead followed by Janet Maher powering though the KP defense to give Mansfield a two goal lead. A breakaway goal from Delang and a goal from Buckley only 14 second later gave the Hornets the largest lead of the game.

Pressuring the Mansfield defense and refusing to let the Hornets get the ball past midfield, Knowlton was able to rush the net for two quick goals that cut the lead to one with 7:23 left to play. 

Recovering a ball near the left post, Lacroix tied the game with a low shot to erase the Mansfield lead and give the Warriors a chance to win.

The winner would come from Alicia Cuocco (3 goals) who gave KP their first lead since early in the first half with 1:16 left to play.

With two seconds to go, Delang had a chance to tie the game with a direct free shot from the far left but could not convert on the literal last second attempt.

The Hornets are off until April 16 when they host Hingham while KP will play Norwood on April 15.