Freshman Nets Game Winner for Wilmington Lacrosse

Wilmington High School freshman Rachael Mara scored the team’s game-winner with under a minute to play on Wednesday at Burlington High School, giving the Wildcats a 13-12 victory in their final game of the season.

“She’s phenomenal,” raved 23-year-old Wilmington coach Maura Kee. “She picks up the ball whenever it hits the ground. I think today brought her to over 50 ground balls for the season and about 30 goals. I can’t wait to watch her develop over the next three years.”

Mara’s goal came after Burlington’s Rachel Joyce (two goals) slung in the game-tying score for Burlington with 1:38 remaining with a straight shot in front of the net against Wilmington sophomore goalkeeper Casey Herra.

“We’ll have (Herra) for two more years and we’re really excited to have a strong foundation there,” Kee said.

“She did well. She struggled with -- she was getting a lot of over the shoulder shots. (But) as soon as she kind of focuses in, she can stop some pretty intense shots.”

Kee said she thought the Wildcats came out flat, but after taking a time out and getting everyone in the game, she felt the team came alive and the game fell together.

After Mara netted Wilmington’s 13th goal, Burlington had the ball for one final shot at a tie, but the Red Devils drew a penalty, allowing Wilmington (7-10) the final possession where they ran out the clock.

“We knew it was going to be close,” Kee said. “We hosted (Burlington) closer to the beginning of the season and it was a good game, back and forth like it was today. (Burlington brings) their A-game all the time and they have a great coaching staff and we knew it was going to be a close one."

“They also have a Wilmington teacher on their team so it’s a fun rivalry,” continued Kee.

The match saw seven ties in the first half alone.

Just like Mara finished the game for Wilmington, she started it by scoring the game’s first goal in the opening minute of play. She ran up the right side, into the middle and straight up in the crease for the shot.

Burlington then took a two-goal advantage after Kat Trahan (three goals) fired a bouncing shot and Jean Hanafin (four goals) rushed from the right win for the score.

Play continued in a see-saw matter.

Amanda Keane scored for Wilmington, running perpendicular to the goal, swinging her stick to the right, making it 2-all. Then Burlington took a 3-2 lead only until Wilmington tied it 3-all.

For the remainder of the first, Trahan made two more goals, Meg Packard pitched in two and Joyce and another Burlington player each contributed one goal. For Wilmington, Mara threw in two, while Kristyn Callahan and Holly Niemiece each scored once.

The Red Devils held their largest lead going into the half, up 9-7, as Packard threw in two in-a-row to break the 7-all tie.

Wilmington was fast to start the second, coming back to tie it 9-all. Then Hannafin scored a jumping goal to take a 10-9 lead, but only for a short second as the Wildcats threw in two for an 11-10 advantage.

Packard scored her third of the game to tie it 11-all after Burlington missed a handful of attempts in the crease; her shot finally going through Wilmington’s hot defense.

Then Keane worried the Red Devils as she put the Wildcats up 12-11 by scoring a on a jumper with only a few minutes left in the game.

Burlington wasn’t able to get another goal, and with Wednesday’s loss, the team’s second in a row after falling to Lexington 17-6 on Tuesday, the Red Devils finish their season 6-14.

Neither Wilmington nor Burlington earned a State Tournament bid.

Download the movie

Download the movie