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Girls youth fifth week action

Date last updated 1:43 pm May 22nd, 2008

Girls youth teams bloom on Mother’s Day

   On a gorgeous Mother’s Day afternoon, girls youth lacrosse teams played on the road in Quincy and at home against Marshfield and the day came up roses for the moms and several of the teams alike.

   At the 15-and-Under level (grades 7 and 8), the Blue and White teams were forced to combine and play two games together as one team because the holiday – plus a school trip to Quebec – meant that there were too few players for the individual Blue and White teams to make a go of it.

   The loss of a majority of the eighth graders might have been trouble for most teams, but it never bothered the Cohasset girls, as they blew past Quincy 13-6 and came home to beat Marshfield 12-7.

   In Quincy, the home team got on the ball first and kept things close at 3-2 midway through the first half, but then Cohasset went on a run and never looked back. Lauren Geary from Hull scored two of the team’s seven first-half goals, with Kristen Alexander, Amanda Farren, Isabella Flibotte, Mariel Teague and Alison Whelan scoring solo goals. For Whelan, the goal was the 50^th of her youth career, and was the start of a very big day.

   The team added six scores in the second half, three of them from Whelan, another from Geary, and one each from Jenna Reece and Cassedy Gwynn. Sarah Evans stopped seven shots in the net, and Cohasset coasted to a 13-6 win.

   At home against Marshfield, it was a game of runs, with Cohasset jumping out to a 4-1 lead, only to see Marshfield string together four goals to go to the break up 5-4. Whelan scored three goals, one assisted by Katherine Brown and another by Kristen Alexander, who scored the fourth Cohasset goal of the stanza. Sydney Blanchard – seeing her first-ever time in the net – stopped three Marshfield shots to keep the game close.

   The second half opened with Marshfield putting a quick score past Nicole Farren, who – like Blanchard – was an emergency fill-in in the goal. But Farren’s first save seemed to calm Cohasset down, and the team responded with a six-goal run of its own. During the outburst, Whelan scored her fourth of the game, Alexander scored twice to finish her hat trick, Jenna Reece scored two of her own, and Cassedy Gwynn stuck a high, hard one past the Marshfield goalie.  Marshfield scored once and threatened to make it closer, but Farren came up with a big save, then started the offense by making a key breakout pass that Sarah Evans took virtually the length of the field to score. Whelan ended the day’s scoring with her fifth goal of the game and her ninth score of the day; the 10-point day (nine goals, one assist) was enough to move Whelan into fifth place on the girls youth lacrosse all-time scoring list with 68 career points, one ahead of teammate Hope Kissick.

   The 11-and-Under White team (grades 3 and 4) played its first home game of the season and played Marshfield to a 6-6 tie. Third-grade attacker Kaitlen McGovern started the scoring, sweeping around from the back of the net after making a nice catch from teammate Libby Mullaney.  The ground crew was at it again scooping ground balls left and right. Kara Nelson, Julia Herzfelder, Olivia Gomez and Charlotte Morrison each were credited with multiple ground balls on the day. Madeline Littlejohn scored to give Cohasset a 2-1 lead at the half.

   The teams traded scores in the second half. Marcella Flibotte scored first, freed to the goal on a nice assist by Bennet Tierney. A few minutes later, Flibotte returned the favor, assisting Tierney to tie the game up 4-4. Kyle Burke put Cohasset back on top, scoring her first goal of the year after switching from her defensive position to running on a midfield line and Cori Golden finished the scoring making a nice catch when Tierney spotted her wide open in the middle of the field, and firing one into the Marshfield net.

   Attack players Madelyn Schwandt and Nonie Thomas earned special kudos on the day by volunteering to play for a Marshfield team that was short players.

   The 13-and-Under Blue team (grades 5 and 6) played a Quincy squad that was shorthanded on the day, and which made its roster by adding 15-and-Under players to field a team.

   Cohasset rose to the challenge and started the scoring quickly, with Molly Fitzgerald rolling the crease and firing one into the bottom corner of the cage. Lexa Grasz followed with a score of her own before Quincy started getting aggressive and tied the game at 2. The Blue squad then turned up the intensity with Kathryn Dunn, Annie McElgunn and Grasz extending the lead to 5-2 at the break. Caty Gilman picked up an assist on Grasz’s half-ending score.

   Quincy was able to control possession for a large portion of the second half due to their size and speed advantage and tied the game at 5-5. It might have been worse but for the tenacious play of Victoria Bryan and the outstanding goaltending of Olivia Blackburn. Bryan picked up four ground balls and played great defense from her midfield position, while Blackburn made some incredible point-blank saves and finished with a season-high 11 stops.
   After seeing its lead evaporate, the Blue squad finished the game strong with Grasz winning the draw with just over a minute left and racing down the field to plant the go-ahead score.  The ensuing draw led to a ground ball scrum in the middle of the field and McElgunn smartly snuck in the back side of the pile, scooped the ground ball and ripped an insurance goal into the cage to make the final 7-5.

   The 13-U White team battled hard with a depleted roster against an athletic Marshfield team, but fell at home by a final score of 9-6.  Maddie Curley led the offensive charge with four goals and one assist and Peyton MacNaught found the mark for two goals and an assist.  Mackenzie Axelson played a strong all-around game, with solid draw controls and passing, including one assist.
   Goalie Taylor Frederick continued her quality play in net with seven saves and solid clearing.  Hannah Cooper saw her first action of the season between the pipes in the second half, and showed strong potential with three saves.