RallyNorth.net

Hartford, Royals pull out thriller

Wednesday, June, 04 By Evan Mugford
Staff writer

In an absolute dynamite of a game, No. 6 Georgetown defeated No. 7 Arlington, 22-21 in overtime, in the Division 2 North semifinals.

The Royals will play No. 4 Winchester, which defeated North Andover, in the final.

With the Royals up 18-16 with less than a minute to go in regulation, Arlington reclaimed possession and sprinted down field and slipped a shot past goalie April Surette (18 saves). After winning the faceoff, the Spy Ponders  netted the game tying goal with four seconds on the clock.

As is the rule with girls high school lacrosse, the teams played two three-minute overtime periods. If the score is still knotted, the game goes into sudden death.

Arlington posted their biggest lead of the game, 21-18, with 1:30 remaining in the second overtime. Still, Royals coach Heather Hartford was optimistic.

"I'm so glad I saved that last timeout," she said. "I knew we were going to need it just in case it was going to go into overtime. They had just made a great comeback against us and I explained to the girls that it wasn't over yet. You can't quit. This is what life lessons are all about because when life gets tough, you need to pick up and move on."

The Royals soon rallied.

Thanks to tenacious defense and wild desperation, Kelly Burke (6 goals, 3 assists) netted two enormous goals | the last one with only 22 seconds remaining. The next faceoff would ultimately decide the game's outcome.

 Shannon Hartford (10 goals, 6 assists) swung the ball to her left, the Royals found control with 15 seconds remaining, then, after a series of short passes, the ball found Hartford. She ducked and spun into enemy territory, nearly losing balance, and with three seconds left, rifled home a goal.

Down a player in sudden death, Surette made a save. Hartford rushed upfield with the ball, faked right, twirled back and scored to send her to team to the North Division 2 final.

"Regardless of who we face, we're going to have to play as deep as we did today," Heather Hartford said. "Smart lacrosse, good team work and solid defense are what we'll need, and from the top kid down, I'm just so proud of our total team effort."

Hartford's 16 points were a career high for a single game.

"We just really wanted to win," Shannon Hartford said. "When they tied it, it was a matter of how bad we wanted the win. We had to do something about it."