The Weston High School girls lacrosse team was able to survive one Winchester scoring run Wednesday evening, but the Wildcats were buried by the second losing to the Sachems, 14-10, in the Div. 2 North Sectional semi-finals.
After falling down 4-0, the second-seeded Wildcats (15-4-1) battled back to 5-3 with back-to-back tallies from junior Emma Dagres. Her second goal displayed her true grit as she fought for a loose ground ball off the faceoff, ran into Sachem territory, and beat goalie Erin Maki. Weston would then score two goals in 34 seconds to tie the game.
The Sachems regained the lead moments later, but the Wildcats would remain within striking distance until the 21:32 mark of the second half. That’s when Winchester scored two man-up goals, part of a five-tally streak that sealed Weston’s fate.
“We came out a little flat,” said Weston head coach Chrissy Swanson. “They were up 4-0. We called a timeout. And then the girls really dug in and came back.”
She continued, “After we called the timeout, we just fixed a lot of things. We came up with more ball control, we fought for more ground balls, the defense did a better job of stopping them. Then at halftime, we came out and it just got away from us.”
Sachem Kate Wendell was an integral part in both scoring runs, netting two tallies in the contest’s first 20 seconds and garnering the aforementioned man-up goals. The senior attacker would add another score to finish with a game-high five goals.
“I thought Kate Wendell did a great job,” said Winchester coach Suzanne Ontso. “She has been coming through all year. She’s a senior. She’s the smartest player we have on the field--literally and figuratively--she’s off to Standford [University] in the fall.”
The third-seeded Sachems (17-2-2) will now take on No. 1 Ipswich (17-1) in the finals. The game is schedule for Friday at 6 p.m in Ipswich.