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The Winchester High girls lacrosse team (8-6) is closing in on a state tournament berth after winning its last two games against visiting Belmont (18-16, May 4) and host Wakefield (12-10, May 6).
“The girls played a great game against Belmont,” said Coach Suzanne Ontso. “We jumped out to a quick three goal lead in the first three minutes of the game on goals by Reese Bottari, Ava O’Gorman and Siobhan Sullivan.”
After that initial surge, both teams traded goals, and as a result the home team was hanging on to a slim 6-5 lead after one quarter. The Marauders then went on to net six unanswered goals, including three in the last two minutes of the first half to take a 12-8 lead at halftime.
Belmont took advantage of two non-releasable penalties to pull ahead late in the first half.
But through the efforts of Millie McDonald and O’Gorman, the Red & Black regained momentum to ultimately secure the win. O’Gorman paced the attack with six goals with McDonald right behind her with five.
The Marauders got into foul trouble late that helped catapult the Winchester girls to six unanswered goals to secure the triumph.
Junior Caroline McInnis scored the eventual game-winner. But Sarah Adams and Michaela Panagako also chipped in with goals. Nelli Murphy was once again solid in net against a formidable Belmont attack, according to Ontso. Murphy was able to come up with six critical stops that helped put her teammates over the top.
“I thought the entire team turned in a huge effort, and did a great job keeping their composure, especially in the last quarter,” said Ontso.
In the game against the Warriors, Mother Nature definitely played a role.
“There were more turnovers than we would’ve liked, because of the rain,” Ontso said.
It was another close, high scoring game, and when push came to shove, the defense stepped up, led by Murphy, who came up with 12 saves to help preserve the win.
“The defense did a great job of adjusting in the second half to hold Wakefield’s top scorer – Teagan Johnson – scoreless after she scored three in the first quarter,” Ontso said, “and the midfielders did a good job with 12 draw controls.”
O’Gorman was the offensive leader with seven goals.
In previous games, the Red & Black were busy over the spring school vacation break, playing three games against perennial non-league postseason foes. They ended up losing all three to Weston (17-9, April 17), North Andover (15-3, April 21) and Wayland (15-10, April 25).
“The girls played well, but we ran into foul trouble against (host) Weston. But Murphy still did her part to keep it close for a while with 16 saves,” said Ontso. “Our defense was strong against (host) North Andover, causing 15 caused turnovers, but at the other end of the field, we struggled to generate any offense against (the North Andover) zone. But against (visiting) Wayland, we were tied at three at the end of the first quarter.”
After that, however, Wayland scored the next four goals in the second quarter to take the lead, before the hosts clawed back to trim the deficit to one, 7-6 at halftime. O’Gorman (2 goals) and McDonald (1) were the leading offensive contributors.
The game was tied again at nine going into the fourth quarter. But the visitors unfortunately scored the first four goals in the final period, and never looked back.
“We obviously wanted to come away with wins over vacation, but the Wayland game, in particular, showed us that we have all the right pieces we need to turn these close games into wins,” said Ontso.
The Winchester girls have a Saturday morning (May 9) non-league home game against Pinkerton Academy, starting at 10 a.m. to close out this week. They will remain at home to take on Watertown on Tuesday, May 12, at 4:30 p.m., before facing host Burlington two days later, beginning at 5:30 p.m.
Joe McConnell is a longtime, award-winning sports editor for numerous North Shore publications. He began covering Winchester sports for the News in November 2024 and is currently its Sports Editor. He can be reached at editor@winchesternews.org.
