Girls’ lax crushes Nantucket in D2 tourney opener

Coming off a blowout loss to King Philip in the regular season finale last Monday, the Canton High girls’ lacrosse team bounced back in a major way this past weekend, demolishing visiting Nantucket 24-5 in the opening round of the Division 2 south sectional tournament.

Sophomore Kellie Stigas

Other than the home-field advantage for the Bulldogs — which was a first for a Canton girls’ lacrosse team — the two squads looked to be evenly matched going into the game, with 16th seeded Canton sporting a 9-8 record and the 17th seeded Whalers owning a nearly identical 9-9 mark.

But any perceived similarities went out the window as soon as the first whistle was blown, as the Bulldogs exploded out of the gate en route to a 15-3 first-half lead, prompting head coach Chris Murtagh to pull all of his starters at halftime and play his second team for the entire third and fourth quarters.

“They played very well and made some really nice plays,” Murtagh said of his reserves, who outscored Nantucket 9-2 in the second half.

The leading scorer for the Bulldogs was senior Emma Compagna, who was moved up from defense to attack after returning from an ankle injury and continued her hot streak with six total goals. Junior standout Meghan Lennon also had an outstanding performance in only two quarters of action, tallying three goals, including the 100th of her career.

Other multiple goal scorers against Nantucket were Jen Martin and Sam Sullivan with three apiece, while two defensemen also scored — Angela Sementelli, who netted her second career goal, and Amanda Crowley, who picked up her first.

Murtagh was also very impressed with the play of sophomore Kellie Stigas, who was a master at winning 50-50 balls and helped set up countless transition opportunities.

Besides propelling the Bulldogs into the next round of the tournament, Sunday’s lopsided victory also proved to be the perfect antidote to whatever ailed the team against KP last week, when the Bulldogs struggled to both score and defend in an eventual 21-7 loss.

“We did not play well at all,” said Murtagh. “We didn’t come out with any enthusiasm, and we pretty much made mistakes the whole way.”

Murtagh said the girls are well past that game, however, and are thrilled to have made it to the second round of the tournament after three consecutive one-and-done seasons.

The Bulldogs were next due to face top-seeded Duxbury on Tuesday, and if they were able to pull off the upset, they would then move on to the quarterfinals to face the winner of Nauset vs. Archbishop Williams.

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Posted by Jay Turner on May 30 2012. Filed under High School, Sports. Both comments and pings are currently closed.