Warriors prevail 9-6 after topping Medford for third straight win

By JIM SOUTHMAYD

WAKEFIELD — The Wakefield Memorial High girls’ lacrosse won two games in two days. However the way the victories came were in quite a contrast to

JULIANNE BOURQUE, a junior, scored a goal and earned an assist in Wakefield’s win against Arlington yesterday at Landrigan Field. On Tuesday against Medford, Bourque scored three goals and had two assists. (Donna Larsson File Photo)

JULIANNE BOURQUE, a junior, scored a goal and earned an assist in Wakefield’s win against Arlington yesterday at Landrigan Field. On Tuesday against Medford, Bourque scored three goals and had two assists. (Donna Larsson File Photo)

each other.

On Tuesday afternoon at Landrigan Field, the Warriors prevailed in a high-scoring 14-12 game over Medford. However yesterday afternoon at Landrigan, it was Wakefield’s defense which took center stage, especially in the second half, as the Warriors posted a 9-6 triumph over Arlington.

Wakefield increased its record 6-4 overall and it is now 2-4 in the Middlesex League Freedom division. The Warriors also won their third straight game dating back to before the April vacation break.

“We finally got a win against a team from the (Middlesex League) Liberty division,” said Head Coach Cara Luca. “We’ve been waiting for that.”

The Warriors jumped out to a 3-0 lead but the Spy Ponders rallied for two goals. Wakefield maintained a one, two or three goal lead for the rest of the half and was up at 7-5 at halftime. The defenses for both teams dominated in the second half as the Warriors scored two goals to Arlington’s one to win by three.

“The defense was amazing,” said Luca. “They were crashing the net against them and forcing them to the outside. We’ve been working on that. I think we were talking to each other more and everything just clicked. Bianca (Passacantilli) also made some key saves for us.”

Passacantilli, a junior, made 10 saves for the Warriors total with most of them coming in the second half of play.

Defensively, the Warriors were led by juniors Isa Cusack, Meg Kerrigan and Cathy Francis.

Offensively, sophomore Kelsey Czarnota led the way with three goals, while junior Jessica Vinciguerra and sophomore Brianna Smith each had two goals. Julianne Bourque, a junior, scored a goal and earned an assist and Cusack scored a goal as well.

Wakefield also switched things up offensively with Czarnota moving outside to the left in a defending and attacking wing position while Julia Brown, a freshman, played at the center position taking the draws at midfield.

“Kelsey moved to a defensive wing and then an attacking wing position,” said Luca. “Julia Brown played in the center. We just wanted to switch it up a bit.”

Czarnota scored goals at 23:16 and 22:28. Vinciguerra tallied her first goal at 20:34 as the Warriors took a 3-0 lead.

Arlington’s Laura Shea and Eliza Brush scored at 18:29 and 18:05 to cut the lead to 3-2.

Smith tallied a goal at 16:32 and Arlington’s Anna Kohlberg tallied a goal for the Spy Ponders at 14:38 to make it a 4-3 game.

Wakefield then got goals from Czarnota with Bourque assisting at 14:38 and Vinciguerra found the back of the net against goalie Ragna Gjoertz at 12:49 to put the home team up 6-3.

Kirsten Sullivan and Insa Manstact scored goals for Arlington at 12:23 and 10:52. In between, Cusack got a goal for Wakefield at 11:24 as the score was 7-5.

The game remained 7-5 over the final 10 and half minutes of the first half as the two defenses started to dominate. The Warriors led by two at halftime.

The second half was dominated by defense as both teams couldn’t find the back of the net. Both teams did have chances, but when the defenses weren’t taking away the ball or forcing errant shots, the two goalies made the saves.

It wasn’t until 7:56 showing on the clock that Wakefield scored its eighth goal with Smith beating Gjoertz. Less than a minute later, Bourque scored at 7:15 to put the Warriors up by four goals, 9-5.

Arlington got a goal back with 4:00 left as Erin Ojarian scored. But that was it for the Spy Ponders, or Wakefield for that matter, as the final score was 9-6.

In Tuesday’s game against Medford, Wakefield won a high-scoring 14-12 game to to a perfect 4-0 in non-league competition.

Czarnota led the way offensively with five goals and two assists. Bourque was next with three goals and two assists.

Vinciguerra and Smith each scored two goals, while Brown and junior Erin Murphy notched a goal apiece. Sophomore Emily Ryan earned an assist as well.

Junior goalie Mikayla White played the entire game in net and made eight saves.

“It was a back and forth game, too,” said Luca. “It was a nice win.”

The Warriors take on Winchester tomorrow afternoon at 3:45 p.m. on the turf at Knowlton Stadium and will be in search of their fourth straight victory.