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State Semifinals: Chittick, Knights lose heartbreaker

Tuesday, July, 21 By Mac Cerullo

WELLESLEY – All season long, the North Andover girls lacrosse team played opponents tough, riding its heart and skill all the way to a second-straight state semifinal appearance.

But yesterday afternoon, the Scarlet Knights finally met their match.

North Andover lost 10-9 to central/western champion Longmeadow in a game that came down to the final minute. The Knights (18-6) trailed the Lancers (20-3) for most of the game and faced a four-goal deficit with 15 minutes to play, but while a furious rally late gave the Knights life, the team ultimately fell one goal short.

“We gave it our all to the end, we almost had them at the end and just ran out of time,” said North Andover coach Meredith Prior. “It was a well fought game, and we stayed in it and we needed one more minute.”

Longmeadow jumped out in front right away, winning the game’s opening draw and scoring a minute and a half later on a goal by sophomore Courtney Barrett. North Andover senior Leah Chittick answered with a goal of her own shortly afterwards, but then the Lancers started to take it to the Knights, pulling ahead 4-2 with 10 minutes to play in the first half.

The next few minutes, however, were all North Andover, as the Knights scored three straight goals in under a minute to take the lead. Chittick scored the first, followed by junior Abbie Karalis and finally junior Julia Morandi.

Just as quickly as the momentum shifted towards North Andover, the game swung right back in favor of Longmeadow. The Lancers ended the half with four straight goals, retaking the lead and going into halftime up 8-5.

Though Chittick would start the second half with a quick goal to cut the deficit to 8-6, Longmeadow remained in control of the game. The Lancers possessed the ball for the first 10 minutes of the second half, scoring twice more to pull ahead 10-6 while forcing North Andover turnovers seemingly every time the Knights tried to move in transition.

Finally, with 13 minutes to play, Prior called a timeout and challenged her team to play with heart and will their way back into the game. Not long after, Chittick made an unbelievable play where she stripped an attacker of the ball on defense, took the ball coast-to-coast and then scored while falling to the turf to get her team back within three.

A minute later, junior Courtney Karelas finished a nice feed from sophomore Colleen Chittick to make it 10-8, and then with 2:25 to play, goalkeeper Lauren Hiller jumped in front of a Longmeadow cross to intercept the ball, ran down the field and started a play that ended with another Leah Chittick goal to cut the deficit to one.

After the game, Prior said the effort shown by Chittick and Hiller was everything she could have possibly asked for.

“It comes down to heart, they have the skill but they have the biggest hearts of the team,” Prior said. “Leah did not stop, I thought she was going to pass out, she was going so hard, and the same thing with Lauren, that’s the time of player you want to see on the field. She doesn’t need all the goals but because she plays so hard, she gets them.”

Though North Andover had its chances late, the Longmeadow defense proved itself and turned the Knights away, forcing a pair of turnovers in the final minute before running the clock out to clinch a place in the state championship game.

Prior said after the game that Longmeadow’s four-goal run at the end of the first half was ultimately the difference maker, but despite the disappointing end, her team had nothing to be ashamed of.

“We had an amazing season, we had our ups and downs but the heart and the team aspect of it, they were amazing,” Prior said. “People didn’t expect us to be here last year and we were here against this year.”