Previously unbeaten girls’ lacrosse drops 3 straight

After roaring out of the gate with seven straight victories, the CHS girls’ lacrosse team experienced something of a wakeup call last week with consecutive losses at the hands of Foxboro, King Philip, and nonleague Norwood.

Senior Sam Sullivan (Mike Barucci photo)

In all three contests, the Bulldogs performed reasonably well, although they could have and should have played better, according to head coach Chris Murtagh.

“We definitely didn’t play as well as we could,” said the veteran coach. “We made too many mistakes in the first half and we weren’t really able to correct them in the second half.”

Murtagh said the 19-14 loss to Norwood on Thursday was particularly disappointing as the girls had just beaten the Mustangs on their home field a week earlier 17-12. Yet Norwood, at 8-3 overall, is certainly no slouch — and the same is true of the two Warriors teams, which own a combined record of 14-3 in Hockomock League play.

Both squads managed to double up the Bulldogs last week, with Foxboro winning 12-6 on Monday and KP prevailing 14-7 in tough weather conditions on Wednesday.

Murtagh said that in both games, the Canton girls looked strong in transition and were able to move the ball well, yet they struggled to finish their shots. “We had a lot of great scoring opportunities, but our shot selection was off,” he said.

On the bright side, senior Sam Sullivan had another big week offensively, scoring eight goals to add to her team-leading total. Senior captain Jackie Merrigan also had a big week with six goals, including five in the Norwood game, and junior Erin Proctor and sophomore Mary Nee each finished with three.

Mary McNeil and Caitlin Hutchinson added two goals last week for Canton, while Danielle Arthur and Christine Ward finished with one goal apiece.

Despite the three losses last week, the Bulldogs (7-3-1) remain firmly entrenched in second place in the Davenport Division and are still in good position for a playoff spot.

“We definitely can right the ship and get ourselves going again,” said Murtagh.

This week, the Bulldogs were due to face perhaps their toughest test of the season with an away game Monday against Franklin (10-3), one of the top ranked teams in the state. The squad will then host nonleague Medway on Thursday (today) before heading to division foe Sharon on Saturday.

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Posted by Jay Turner on May 8 2014. Filed under High School, Sports. Both comments and pings are currently closed.