Girls’ lax still eyeing postseason after 1-1 split

After six consecutive weeks with at least one win and one loss, the CHS girls’ lacrosse team now finds itself right around .500 and in need of a strong finish if it wants to make it back to the postseason.

Senior captain Jen Martin (Mike Barucci photo)

Last week, the girls continued a season-long trend with a convincing victory over Milford and a close loss to Ursuline Academy, putting them at 6-7-1 with four games to play. The Bulldogs will need to win three of those remaining contests to clinch a spot in the Division 2 south sectional tournament.

Playoff chances aside, Canton has all but wrapped up second place in the Davenport Division after last Monday’s 19-8 win at Milford, which brought the girls’ record to 6-3 against Hockomock League opponents.

Playing in their final road game of the regular season, the Bulldogs effectively dominated the winless Hawks from start to finish, racing out to a 13-5 halftime lead before finishing them off in the second half.

“We were able to control the draws,” said head coach Chris Murtagh, “and we had the game in hand pretty much the whole time.”

The Bulldogs got monster offensive performances from junior Jackie Merrigan and senior Meaghan McKenna, who accounted for more than half of the team’s scoring total with six and four goals, respectively. Senior captains Meghan Lennon and Jen Martin added two apiece, while Kaitlin Phillips, Christine Ward, Caitlyn Feeney, and Sam Sullivan finished with one goal each.

The team was also supposed to play Oliver Ames last week, but the game was postponed due to wet weather. The girls then welcomed nonleague Ursuline to town on Saturday night, and while they had no trouble scoring in the game, they allowed too many the other way as the Bears held on for a 20-17 win.

Murtagh said his team seemed to be knocking on the door for most of the game but just couldn’t get over the hump. They trailed by one at halftime (11-10) and were still down one late in the second half when Ursuline converted back-to-back goals to put the game out of reach.

“We played with them the whole game, and they were able to just add a couple of quick ones over the final three minutes,” Murtagh said afterwards.

Besides losing the game, the Bulldogs also lost an important contributor in Jackie Martin, who will miss the rest of the season after fracturing her leg. Only a sophomore, Martin had emerged as a key cog on defense and will be sorely missed, according to Murtagh.

After playing mostly away games throughout the early part of the spring, the Bulldogs will close out the regular season with four straight at home, including two this week against Sharon and Foxboro. They will also play a makeup game against OA and will wrap things up on Monday, May 20, against nonleague Norwood.

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Posted by Jay Turner on May 16 2013. Filed under High School, Sports. Both comments and pings are currently closed.