Warriors earn sixth win of season, top Marauder 11-8
KELSEY CZARNOTA, a senior, scored three goals and earned an assist in Wakefield’s 11-8 triumph over Belmont on Friday afternoon at Landrigan Field. (Donna Larsson File Photo)
Published in the May 8, 2017 edition.
By DAN BYRNE
WAKEFIELD — On Friday, the Wakefield Memorial High School varsity girls’ lacrosse team took another step in the right direction and moved closer to qualifying for the state tournament with an 11-8 win over Belmont at Landrigan Field.
The rain came fast and heavy, and so did the Warrior offense as the home team notched its sixth win of the season. Wakefield is now 6-5 overall and 3-4 in the Middlesex League Freedom division.
“I’d heard some things about Belmont and how good they were so we were a little leery coming in,” said coach Cara Luca admitting to having some reserved feelings coming into the game.
Wakefield was led in its attack by senior captain Kelsey Czarnota as she found the net three times and got the scoring started less than a minute into the first half.
Czarnota was key in winning possession for the Warriors as she controlled five draws at the center X. She also added an assist to complete a well-rounded day.
Despite the quick start, Belmont was able to answer back and go ahead by two goals for a period of time.
“It was back and forth the whole game,” commented Coach Luca after the win. “Belmont went up by two goals once. Then we came back and tied it and won by three.”
It was 5-5 at halftime, but Czarnota scored early in the second half to put the Warriors up by one. The Marauders went on to score three times to take an 8-6 lead. With just under 15 minutes to play, Courtney Hill scored to spark some life back into the Warrior attack.
“Courtney Hill had a really good goal that helped us get back into the game,” Luca said.
Hill also added an assist to her point total.
Following Hill’s goal, Julia Brown and Brianna Smith added to the total for the Warriors making the score 9-6. Smith had two goals on the day.
Belmont came right back and scored a pair of goals to cut the lead down to one, but Czarnota’s third goal with three minutes remaining put the Warriors back up by two at 10-8.
Warriorsenior captain Taylor Messina had two goals in the game. The second came just 18 seconds before the end of the game, sealing the victory for the Warriors. Messina also came up big to gain possession filling in when Czarnota was not in the face-off X, controlling three face-off draws in the game.
The team’s defense was not to be overlooked as coach Luca noted saying, “Megan Horrigan did a great job on defense intercepting passes. Along with Brooke Lilly and Laura Keegan, the three of them in the backfield, they’re a strong defensive team, they’re aggressive.”
The Warriors are becoming adept to playing in foul weather as coach Luca noted.
“In the rain again, yes. It was a big win,” she said. “We played our game today. Apparently we play well in the rain, so hopefully it’ll rain all next week!”
The Warriors have a full slate starting on Monday with a trip to Lynnfield before a big matchup with Woburn at Landrigan on Tuesday. The Warriors wrap up the week with a trip to rival Melrose on Thursday. It should be noted that today’s game at Lynnfield has been changed to a 3 p.m. start.
