Girls Lacrosse Takes South Sectional Championship

The Needham Rockets played Westwood's varsity girls lacrosse squad closer than any team has over the last month, but still came up short on Friday.

Westwood, the No. 1 ranked team in the state, defeated Needham 14-8, grabbing their fifth consecutive Division 1 South Sectional title. The Wolverines will play the winner of Andover/Lincoln-Sudbury on Tuesday at Wellesley College in the State Semi-Finals.

Westwood started out no differently than usual on Friday, as the team went up 7-0 early on the No. 2 ranked Needham Rockets. Sarah Biron, Kate Rich and Ela Hazar each put in two goals of the first seven and Emily McGrail netted the other.

The difference on this day however, was Needham refused to bow down to the home team and matched Westwood point for point thereafter, something the Wolverines had been slightly unfamiliar with.

“It wasn’t about any strategy, it was just about staying together as a team,” said Needham head coach Beth O’Brien.

The Rockets closed out the half on a 5-2 run and narrowed the deficit to as few as three goals before Laura McHoul gave Westwood a momentum-shifting goal with four seconds left in the half.

“We said five, six goals means nothing in the game of lacrosse so we always keep in our mind that any gave we are able to come back from,” O’Brien said.

“Needham was just pressuring the attackers and their goalie was making great saves,” said Westwood head coach Leslie Frank. “We didn’t work hard enough for better shooting opportunities.”

Rockets’ goalkeeper Anne O’Connor was sensational, having recorded seven first-half saves and had 17 for the game.

After goals from Needham’s Catherine Conley (2), Shelby Aubin, Maddie Stenberg and Abby Burns, McHoul put in the big one that turned the game around for good.

The Westwood defense picked up its pressure in the second half and surrendered just a single goal by Michaela Shea and just five shots through the first 24 plus minutes. McHoul added three more scores in the half, capping a game-changing 5-1 Wolverine run.

“She’s had a couple games where she’s been nervous, but these last few games she’s been great,” Frank said of McHoul. “Whether assisting, scoring or defending back, she’s just an all-around great player.”

Stenberg added two more goals for Needham with under a minute remaining, which was somewhat symbolic of how vulnerable Westwood was at times.

Sarah Biron talked about the touch-ups her team needs to make if they want to put away the champion from the north region Tuesday. 

“We really need to make smart decisions,” Biron said. We can’t have breaks in out plays. We always need to bring the ball down and a have a good possession and get a good shot rather than coming down and forcing it, which we did a lot of today.”

Added Frank, “Everyone’s coming after you. You can’t have those lulls and you have to play for 50 minutes.”