RallyNorth.net

Marblehead girls overcome Belmont

Friday, May, 30 By Jean DePlacido
Correspondent

Losing Northeastern Conference MVP Juliet Munroe after she got two yellow cards in the first half might have been enough to derail Marblehead High's girls lacrosse team yesterday in the Division 2 North tourney.

However, the good teams show resilience, and the Magicians had plenty of it in a big postseason game.

Despite trailing by a goal at halftime, No. 5 seed Marblehead rallied to pull out a hard fought 11-9 victory over 12th seeded Belmont.

"We came out a little slow but picked it up to play the way we normally do," said Marblehead coach Carolyn Coyle, whose team boosted its record to 16-3. Marblehead goes to Winchester (16-1-2) tomorrow (1 p.m.). "We rely on everybody, not just one player. We won this game as a team, and so many of our girls came through."

Belmont had a two hour bus ride on Route 128, stuck in traffic because of the apartment complex fire in Peabody, and the game was 15 minutes late getting underway to allow them extra time to warm up. The Marauders jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first five minutes before Munroe put Marblehead on the board with 16:31 remaining in the half.

Belmont had success using its speed on fast breaks and Danielle Pargoli raced the length of the field for a 3-1 lead before the Magicians regrouped to tie it up on goals by Tori Snow (four goals, one assist) and the first of five scores by Lauren Bibby.

"I got some great passes," said Bibby, an NEC All-Star. "We won because everybody contributed. I just tried to get free and Kate Corbett made some awesome passes. Once we got it going our offense really clicked."

The visitors provided a good challenge for the NEC champs, led by Hannah Judge with three goals and an assist. Marblehead took 18 shots in the first half, but trailed, 5-4 at intermission because of the outstanding job freshman goalie Katy Ananian did. She came up with big stops on free position shots, robbing Elise DiPrisco three times, and Munroe on another occasion. Munroe's second card came with just over four minutes left in the half with her team down by one. Snow tied it at 4-4, but Abby Ananian put Belmont on top, 5-4 at the break.

Marauder coach Jessica MacLellan urged her team to take advantage of the always dangerous scoring threat Munroe being out of the game (she will be back against Winchester).

"Sometimes losing a key player like that doesn't work in your favor," said MacLellan, whose Middlesex League team finished with a 9-7-1 record. "They became more diversified with her off the field, and other girls stepped up.

"We gave them a battle and this was a game that could have gone either way, but every time we pulled ahead they answered."

 Bibby struck twice early in the second half, sandwiched in between a Snow goal to stake the Magicians to a 7-5 lead before Judge answered with two fast break scores just 39 seconds apart to knot it up again. Marblehead's Jen Perry and Belmont's Rebecca Russo traded goals before Bibby and Snow took charge to make sure their team came out on top.

Corbett spotted Bibby all alone in front of the net and gave her a perfect pass. Bibby made a nifty move on Ananian and fired a shot into the back of the net to put her team ahead for good with eight minutes remaining, and then struck again a minute and a half later after being set up by Steph Castoldi. And Snow, who was all over the field scooping up ground balls, delivered the knockout goal on a nice solo effort.

"She's the ground ball queen," said Bibby. "We count on her to get anything on the ground."

Marblehead goalie Sarah Noyes came up with some clutch saves, none bigger than the one on Rebecca Russo with seven minutes left in the game and her team clinging to a one goal lead.

"We had to capitalize on the little things to win this game," said Snow, an NEC All-Star at midfield. "Our defense worked really hard to prevent them from doing what they wanted on offense and we all talked when the ball was down low. That communication made a big difference, and I thought we did a great job the whole second half. We definitely didn't want to lose on our home field."