THE LYNNFIELD High girls’ lacrosse team played a great game in the Div. 4 Round of 16 against Ipswich. The Pioneers kept it close against a strong Tigers team that has since advanced to the Finals. (Courtesy Photo)

 

 

By STEPHEN MARTELLUCCI

IPSWICH — In the regular season, the Lynnfield High girls’ lacrosse team lost twice to Ipswich, 16-7, on April 11 and 20-13 on May 14.

The two CAL rivals met again in the MIAA Division 4 Round of 16 on June 5 up in Ipswich at Jack Welch Stadium as the Pioneers were looking for the upset.

However, the Tigers won again, defeating the Pioneers, 17-10.

With that loss, the 13th-seeded Pioneers ended the year at 10-12.

Meanwhile, the 4th-seeded Tigers beat Sandwich, 16-8, in the Quarterfinals and Weston, 12-11, in the State Semifinals to improve to 18-1. Ipswich will now play Cohasset in the Div. 4 State Championship on June 13.

This game got started at 5 p.m. but, after three minutes of action, was delayed due to lightning. The teams resumed play a little after 7 p.m.

Lynnfield gave the host team a scare early on as they led 5-4 in the second quarter. The Tigers then went on a 4-1 run the rest of the second to lead 8-6 at the half.

Lynnfield hung around until the fourth quarter as the Tigers were then able to pull away.

“They won more draws and we made some mistakes that they capitalized on,” said Lynnfield head coach Christina Serra, about the fourth quarter.

Lynnfield was led in scoring by freshman Hayden Valiton as she scored five goals. Her older sister, junior captain Taylor Valiton, netted two goals.

Ava Damiani had a team-high three assists to go with one goal while fellow freshman, Jordan Calichman, had one goal and two assists.

The other Pioneer tally was by Hannah Ozanian.

Hallie Greenleaf led the Tigers with nine points as she had six goals and three assists. Lucy Winthrop had four goals and one assist while Lyla Greeenleaf had a game-high five assista to go with one goal.

“They both did a great job,” said Serra, about the Greenleaf sisters. “Lyla did a great job with the face-offs while Hallie is a good scorer.”

Tiger goalie, Emma Paquette, made four saves while Pioneer netminder, senior captain Casey Flynn, made eight stops.

“This was the most competitive we have been with Ipswich since I have been coaching here,” pointed out Serra. “I couldn’t be happier with the way our team performed, even though we lost.”