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With the regular season winding down, the Winchester High School girls lacrosse team (8-5) is closing in on a state tournament berth.
There are five games left on the schedule for the Red & Black, and they are peaking at the right time after winning their last two games against Watertown (10-8, May 2) and Tewksbury (14-4, May 6) on the road.
Winchester Coach Suzanne Ontso knew that last Friday’s Watertown game was not going to be easy.
“Watertown is a very scrappy team that’s having a strong season, so we knew they’ll look to shoot a lot and put pressure on our midfielders,” the coach said after the game. “We went back and forth with them early on, before going up 8-4 heading into the fourth quarter.”
Winchester goalie Lulu Murphy came up with 26 saves to help keep her teammates ahead on the scoreboard.
Ava O’Gorman paced the offensive attack with three goals. Siobhan Sullivan was next in line with two. Senior captain Mackenzie Morse had a great game from her midfield position, according to the coach. She scored a goal, while also winning several key draws.
The Top 32 teams statewide in each division, regardless of record, qualify for the postseason, along with any other squad below the Top 32 that is at least .500. Winchester is currently seeded 27th, according to the Division 1 May 6 power rankings. There are 47 teams in Division 1.
“Our goal is always to have a winning record, and qualify as high as possible in the statewide seedings – the Top 16 teams get at least one home game,” said Ontso. “A couple of close recent losses to Billerica (12-8, April 28) and Wakefield (10-8, April 30) have definitely impacted the seedings, but those losses also helped us improve.”
Of the five regular season games left on the schedule, the Winchester girls will be going up against highly-ranked opponents like Lexington (11th seed), Belmont (14th) and Brookline (24th), and so as a result Ontso said, “we’re focused on all five games in an attempt to get one of those top (16) seeds.”
After going up against visiting Burlington on May 8, the Red & Black will be closing out this week against aforementioned Brookline on Saturday (May 10) at Downes Field in Brookline, starting at 10:15 a.m. They will then come home to get ready for visiting Lexington, another one of those top clubs, on Tuesday (May 13) on the Knowlton Turf at 4:30 p.m.
