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Gloucester girls lacrosse knocks off Danvers in overtime thriller

Wednesday, May, 07 By Richard Slate
Staff writer

The Gloucester girls lacrosse team picked up its first win of the season in the most dramatic fashion possible: Six minutes into overtime, junior center midfielder Jennavie Orrell scored her seventh goal of the game to clinch an 18-17 win over Danvers and send her teammates into delirium.

"A foul had occurred so Jennavie had the restart," reported Gloucester head coach Mike Mateo. "She had one girl in front of her and three in back, but the whole right side was open. I told her to 'go to the net and see what happens.'"

Jennavie wasn't the only offensive star as four other Fishermen found the back of the net. Attack Melanie Tobey and midfielder Miranda Orrell, Jennavie's sister, each had four goals while attacks Candice Stuart, Kacie O'Maley and Miha Watanabe all produced a goal apiece.

Even in such a high-scoring contest, Mateo singled out his defenders for their fine performances.

"The biggest part of why we won the game was that the defense played the best game that they could play," Mateo remarked. "Kathleen Smith, Jenny Perkins and Grace Kelley played shut-down defense. If it wasn't for them, we wouldn't have one."

Gloucester goalie Jessica Grella also did her part by making 15 saves in the win.

"She had a heck of a game," Mateo said. "She was in the zone and determined to stop everything. She made some phenomenal saves."  

The game was back and forth, although the Falcons held a three-goal advantage late in the first half. A three-goal run by Gloucester pushed it to 8-8 at the half. Jennavie Orrell scored twice then Tobey tied it up.   

At halftime, Mateo didn't have to pull out any inspirational speeches; the Fishermen followed the lead of their captains, Tobey and O'Maley.

 "They said, 'this is our game, we're not losing this game,' and all the players followed. The captains took control and put them on their back," he said.

For an exceptionally young team | just five of Gloucester's 22 players are seniors, the overtime win will go a long way toward boosting the Fishermen's confidence and showing them what they can achieve when they work together.

"It's always a classic Danvers-Gloucester game the three years that I've been here," Mateo noted. "It seems to come down to the last minute and they pulled it off today, they played with so much heart and intensity. I'm so proud."

Up next, the Fishermen travel to Billerica tomorrow for a non-conference game. Mateo hopes the team can build off of this win.

"Hopefully we can keep this momentum going and get our second win. It started on Friday, when we played well in a loss to Swampscott. Then Monday was by far our best practice of the season and today was our best game. It transferred over."