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The Winchester High girls lacrosse team (8-11) got into the Division 1 state tournament as the 27th seed. They then went up against host Westford Academy (17-3), the sixth seed, in the Round of 32 on May 30, where they lost to the host Ghosts, 13-6.
The Ghosts went on to defeat King Philip (17-5, 11th seed), 19-5 in the Sweet 16 on June 3 to advance to Sunday’s (June 8) Elite 8 game against host Lincoln-Sudbury (13-5, third seed). The Warriors took care of Newton South (6-13), the 30th seed, 22-5, and Belmont (14-8), the 14th seed, 12-4, in the first two rounds.
There are 47 teams in Division 1, and 33 of them made the playoffs this year.
The Red & Black went into their state tournament opener focused on Westford Academy sisters Kassidy Carmicheal, a senior, and Kiley Carmicheal, a sophomore, the home team’s top offensive players.
Prior to the game, it was also the last official day of school for the Winchester seniors, and couple that with the fact that the team was on the bus to Westford for over an hour caused the Red & Black as a whole to get off to a “sluggish start,” said Coach Suzanne Ontso.
As a result, Westford Academy scored the first two goals. Freshman Grace Trahan and Kassidy Carmicheal accounted for those scores.
Winchester senior captain Mackensie Morse trimmed the deficit to one, before the Ghosts exploded for four unanswered goals, including two more from Kassidy Carmichael and another one by Trahan. The Ghosts led, 6-1 after one quarter. Winchester goalie Lulu Murphy made five saves in that period.
Junior Ava O’Gorman was credited with Winchester’s second goal of the game. But the home team tacked on six more before halftime.
The Red & Black received back-to-back cards as a result of cross-checking and tripping penalties near the end of the first half, but the defense of Amelia Corvi, Gemma Marino, Madelyn Rabinovich and Ava Paragas was able to hold the Ghosts scoreless into the first two minutes of the second half, while down two players. Murphy came up with seven more saves in net throughout the second quarter, and six more in the second half for a total of 18 in the game.
“Lulu Murphy, who is heading to the University of California Berkeley in the fall, was outstanding in the cage against a team that has two of the best scorers in the Dual County League,” said Ontso.
The Ghosts led at halftime, 12-2, but the Winchester girls weren’t giving up.
Junior Ella McCarthy stepped up to stop one of Winchester’s guards in the second half.
“That one player was dominating the draws and the attacks, so we knew we had to mix things up,” said Ontso. “It’s tough to face a guard, because it can really put a lot of pressure on your defense, but Ella has come on strong recently drawing big matchups, and has been huge for us. The defense as a whole shifted to a zone, and that seemed to be the spark we needed.”
Senior Gemma Marino, who will be attending Franciscan University in the fall, created a turnover after a Murphy save, and proceeded to get the ball deep into the Westford offensive zone, before a turnover sent it back into Winchester’s end of the field, where Murphy responded with consecutive saves. She had a total of four in the third quarter.
Senior captain Izzy Arrangio opened up the scoring in the final quarter on a feed from junior Siobhan O'Sullivan. Senior Mackensie Morse then took the ball after a timeout and following a Wickramasinge draw to score the team’s fourth goal of the game. A short time later, Arangio accounted for another score, before senior Gigi Donlon closed out the scoring with a late goal.
“I told the girls that they were going to be the most dangerous 8-10 team in the tournament, and I meant it,” said Ontso afterwards. “This team was just finding its rhythm after some tough close losses to Brookline, Wakefield, Billerica and Belmont in the last couple of weeks.
“It was a major accomplishment to hold a top team that was attacking full force the entire game to just one goal in the second half, while at the same time outscoring them, 4-1. It was indeed a total team effort,” added the veteran Winchester coach. “Westford was on its heels the whole second half, but we just needed to turn it on earlier in the game.”
Ontso loses nine to graduation, but she still has 13 returnees coming back with experience that should set the tone for next season to go along with solid younger players ready to step up to help them get back into the postseason.
Laxmen drop high scoring heartbreaker to Westford Academy
After beating Shrewsbury (6-13), the 23rd seed, in the Division 1 preliminary round, 15-2, on May 30, the Winchester High boys lacrosse team (13-8), the 10th seed, lost a heartbreaker to Westford Academy (16-3, seventh seed) in the Round of 32, 13-11 on June 3.
Coach Phil Reuland had no complaints about his team’s work ethic that was a constant throughout the season.
“Our kids played hard all season long,” he said. “I’m very proud of the overall effort, led by our senior leaders, including Joe Guida and Jake Tempesta, who are both moving on to play college football in the fall, while this year’s captains – Adam Rauseo (Bridgton Academy) and Chris McCarthy (St. Anselm) – will be playing college lacrosse.”
Reuland went on to say that he has a very experienced group coming back for the 2026 season.
“We return three All-League players in Ted Budreski, Ryan Martin and Gianni DePrimeo to lead a great team, while still playing a competitive schedule, once again,” he said.
