Warriors prevail in 11-9 thriller
SOPHOMORE Kelsey Czarnota (second from right) fights for the draw against Peabody’s Sydney Cooke (#8). Wakefield’s Isa Cusack (#30) and Emily Ryan (#1) watch the play along with Peabody’s Sarah Gooschall (#11). (Donna Larsson Photo)
By JIM SOUTHMAYD
WAKEFIELD — There were no big deficits or huge comebacks this time around for the Wakefield Memorial High girls’ lacrosse team.
Instead the Warriors were involved a thriller throughout the entire 50 minutes against Peabody in a non-league game yesterday at Landrigan Field. Wakefield prevailed by an 11-9 score to increase their overall record to 2-1 on the year.
Wakefield jumped out to a 3-0 lead but the Tanners didn’t roll over and answered in what was a contest between two evenly-matched teams. Wakefield held a 6-3 lead when Peabody scored the final four goals of the first half to take a 7-6 halftime lead.
The teams traded goals in the second half and were tied at 8-8 when Wakefield scored twice to take a two goal lead. After Peabody cut the lead to 10-9, the Warriors tallied one more goal for insurance and then hung on for the victory as a Tanner goal was disallowed due to a penalty and junior goalie Mikayla White made a couple of key saves in the final minutes.
“It was nerve wracking,” said Head Coach Cara Luca. “Once we switched to a zone defense, I think we had more control against the offense Peabody was running than we did playing man-to-man. Mikayla White played well in goal. She was aggressive and made some key saves.”
White had 10 saves total for the contest.
Juniors Isa Cusack, Meaghan Kerrigan, and Cathy Francis led the way on defense for Wakefield which shined in the second half holding to Peabody to just the two goals.
Offensively, sophomore Kelsey Czarnota led the way with four goals and an assist. Junior Jessica Vinciguerra tallied three goals, while sophomore Brianna Smith, sophomore Emily Ryan, junior Julianne Bourque and freshman Julia Brown each scored one goal.
Vinciguerra, Smith and Ryan each scored goals at 23:35, 21:27 and 19:23 of the first half to give Wakefield a 3-0 advantage. Czarnota assisted on Ryan’s goal.
The Warriors dominated possession early but as the half wore on Peabody controlled much of the play and that allowed the Tanners to get back in the game. Lauren Wolfe scored at 16:08 to get the visitors on the scoreboard.
Czarnota and Vinciguerra each found the back of the net at 15:55 and 12:57 to give the Warriors a 5-1 lead.
Sarah Napolif and Emma Rigol tallied goals at 11:56 and 9:34 to cut the lead to 5-3.
Czarnota ripped a shot by Peabody goalie Ali Hennigan at 9:21 to give the home team a 6-3 edge.
But the Tanners scored the final four goals of the first half to take a 7-6 lead at halftime. Sarah Gooschall put in a rebound of a missed shot at 8:44, while Napolif found the back of the net at 6:40 and 3:20. Sydney Cooke scored a goal as well at 4:08 which tied the game 6-6 at the time.
The Warriors trailed by one when the second half began but the deficit didn’t last long as Bourque scored at 24:42 to tie the game at 7-7.
Czarnota scored her third goal at 18:35 to give the Warriors the lead again, 8-7.
Adrianna Ranen found the back of then at 14:33 which tied the game at 8-8.
Wakefield tallied the next two goals to give itself a little cushion with Vinciguerra and Czarnota scoring their final goals of the game at 12:33 and 11:32.
Napolif scored her fourth goal of the game at 7:05 to cut the lead to 10-9.
Ranen nearly scored again shortly after but the goal was disallowed due to the penalty. The infraction hurt Peabody even more when Brown found the back of the net at 5:04 to make the score 11-9 where it stood for the rest of the contest.
“Julia Brown, a freshman, scored a big goal,” said Luca. “It was a close game. Kelsey won most of the draws and that helped us control play. I thought our defense had a great second half.”
Wakefield has won back-to-back non-league games but now the Warriors return to play in the Middlesex League. Tomorrow afternoon, the Warriors take on Liberty division juggernaut Lexington at 3:45 p.m. at Lincoln Park.
