RallyNorth.net

North Andover falls short in state finals

Wednesday, June, 10 By Kyle Andreoni
Staff writer

WELLESLEY ­— The North Andover girls lacrosse team lost in the Division 2 state championship game to Norwell last night 15-6 in front of about 1,000 fans at Babson College.

Norwell’s quad-captain Kate MacDonald’s six points (3 goals, 3 assists) and sophomore Molly Cox’s hat trick in the first half were too much to overcome. The Knights went into the half trailing 8-1.

“We made some defensive adjustments at half time to double the ball,” said head coach Karen Lahey.  “You can’t let a team like that get up (like that). They are just too good for that.”

Indeed, this was the Clippers’ third state title and fourth appearance in the championship game in the last five years.

Five different players scored in the second half for the Knights (20-5) but every time they had something going, the South Shore League champs (17-5-1) would strike right back.

“The scouting report on Norwell is they are really fast, and they showed that tonight. Their strength is in the transition game and we let them play that way. I told the team we were playing how they wanted us to play,” said Lahey.

“We worked really hard the whole year,” said senior Bri Connolly. “We were excited coming in. But they just outplayed us.”

“They are a very strong team. We felt we were well prepared,” said a dejected Lahey.

“We have 13 seniors on this team, seven are starters and this is their last game. They are all leaders. No one wants to settle with just getting here.

“We have a saying we use every day, ‘Count on me.’ I tell them every day to ask themselves, ‘How can you help the team out? How can you make your teammates depend on you today.’ We just have so many seniors here that are going to go on and represent North Andover well.”

They didn’t do too badly representing the school the last couple weeks either. This was the finest season in the nine-year history of the program and the tourney run included a stunning win over defending state champion Winchester.

Norwell beat a team with a better record in each of its five tourney wins, topping the sixth, third second and fourth seeds in the South to get to the title game. The Clippers were seeded just 11th in the South but they are arguably the top girls program in the state with three state titles in the last five years.