Melrose remains undefeated at 6-0
Published May 28, 2021
By JENNIFER GENTILE
MELROSE—The undefeated Melrose High girl’s varsity lacrosse team is in full cruise control after collecting six wins on the season following back-to-back wins over Wilmington last week. Melrose (6-0) outscored the Wildcats 21-5 in two games in victories of 11-1 and 10-4 and appear to be the team to beat in the Middlesex Freedom League.
Offense has certainly not been a problem for Melrose, who on May 19 relied on scoring from Ella DeCecca and Ali Maguire, among others, to secure a 10-4 victory. Both DeCecca and Maguire are leading the team in goals and against the Wildcats had 4 and 3 a piece, respectively. Other goals came courtesy of Ava Palumbo, Marie Maher and Sofia Pitcher.
Melrose followed that gem with a 11-1 win over the Wildcats once more on the road on May 22 at Wilmington High. Sophomore Sofia Pitcher led the effort with 3 goals and 2 assists, while DeCecca matched that effort with 3 goals of her own.
Melrose coach Matt Galusi had praise for DeCecca, one of the team’s top scorers. “She was a sophomore when she last was on the field. She was getting some varsity minutes and was a bit of a swing player but we saw the potential. But now she is such a fierce player and so coachable. She plays with a reckless abandon that we love, even if it leads to some nicknames like ‘Fell-a DeCecca’ because she throws it all out there and hits the ground. She’s just 150 mph and we wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Melrose goalie Paige Rocha has cranked it up in recent games. “She had 15 saves in our last game and completely shut down Wilmington, who I have tremendous respect for,” says the coach. “We’ve also given Sophia Hitchman minutes at the goal and she’s doing great.”
The two pairings against Wilmington have given the coach a moment to reflect on competition. During Melrose’s first pairing with Wilmington, the Raiders were only hanging on to a 4-3 lead at halftime—a sign that it was time to ramp it up. “That was a great wake up call. We got the message,” says Galusi. “Don’t let their record fool you. Wilmington had a tremendous goalie. And they are a team who plays hard and never cheap. We have a great respect for them.”
As they prepare for competition against Burlington, Melrose may need to get creative. With an injury to Ali Maguire, they will re-adjust some positional players. Don’t be shocked to see senior captain Lizzy Casey moved to middle and sister Megan Casey moved to defense. Either way, Melrose has the ingredients to adjust and keep the competition going. With undefeated Burlington ahead of them it’s no doubt Melrose will have to bring their A game. Says the coach, “Burlington can score goals. We scouted them. They do stuff that we do and it will be a bit of a chess match.”
And after that, the competition will widen. “We can’t wait for the ML tournament and the MIAA playoffs,” says Galusi. “I’d like to see how the tougher teams will do against Maeve, Lizzie and Meg. I’ll take my starting low defense against any team in the league. We are defending league champs and I like to remind the team of that. We’re going to play like it.”
