Girls Lacrosse Wins North Sectional Crown

In the postgame scrum of cheering parents and players, a Westford Academy fan said to the team "Thank you for a great season."

The response came quickly from a Grey Ghost player.

"It's not over yet," she said with a smile.

Westford Academy won the North Division 1 championship on Thursday afternoon with a 13-7 win over North Andover and advanced to take on Notre Dame Academy in a Tuesday state playoff game.

It wasn't the usual game day for the Grey Ghosts. The school went into lockdown for several hours in search of a missing student. As a result, students were sent home early and graduation rehearsal was postponed.

Sensing that her team may be feeling stressed, head coach Julie Olivier called them over to her house at 1:30 p.m., just under two hours prior to the scheduled start of the contest.

"It was an emotional day. We talked, and we went downstairs in the basement and did yoga and relaxed," said Olivier, whose team fell behind 3-0 early on, a rare occurrence for a team that's dominated foes all year. "Part of that yoga training is you don't panic. My first time out was to stop the panic. We talked and I said, 'You have to play in command and you are the boss.' Any time I've talked this year, they've responded."

After entering the half tied at 5-5, Westford fell behind 6-5 early in the second frame. But that's when the Grey Ghosts took over. Westford scored the game's next eight goals, and didn't allow a North Andover tally until there just 30 seconds remained.

Thanks to Thursday's victory, the locals will take on Notre Dame Academy of Hingham, the South Division 1 champion. That game is slated for Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. on the field at Wellesley College. The winner will play the Central versus West winner on Friday at 5 p.m.