WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – The Mount Greylock girls lacrosse team Saturday used a 6-1 run that spanned the second and third quarter to break open a close game and went on to a 17-8 win over Lee on John T. Allen Field.
Lucy McWeeny and Phoebe Hughes each scored four goals, and Megan Lagerwall had a hat trick as the Mounties picked up their first win of the young season.
Mount Greylock, which was tied, 6-6, midway through the second quarter, outscored the Wildcats, 9-2, in the second half.
“I think the message that I wanted to put out there for them was to focus on the small things we’re trying to work on,” Mount Greylock coach Jeff Stripp said of his half-time adjustments. “Specifically, that was ground balls. And I think once we concentrated focus on that, they started to pick up more ground balls, securing more possessions. I think that was a factor.”
Lee coach Sarah Schaeffer signed on to that assessment.
“The difference was ground balls,” she said. “They beat us to every single ground ball on the attack and the defensive end.
“We do not have a bench. We have one sub. Our midfielders running back and forth, we just didn’t have someone to put in for them to give them a quick break. So, especially on ground balls, that’s going to hurt us.”
Ashley Sonsini, Elizabeth Ballinger and Naima Clark each scored a pair of goals for Lee, which got 11 saves from Reese Duschesne.
Teigan Brady stopped five shots to earn the win between the pipes for Mount Greylock.
Ballinger scored the game’s first goal just 26 seconds into the game.
Hughes answered 31 seconds later at the other end, setting the tone for a back-and-forth first half.
Neither team led by more than a goal until the last moments of the half. There were six ties and three lead changes.
Mount Greylock took the lead for good with 5 minutes, 11 seconds left in the half when Molly Cangelosi (one goal, three assists) set up Reese Raymond to make it 7-6.
Three minutes later, Cangelosi scored to make it a two-goal margin at half-time.
The second half belonged to the Mounties, who got the first two goals from McWeeny and Lagerwall and never led by fewer than three goals the rest of the way.
Mount Greylock outscored Lee, 5-0, in the fourth quarter.
Schaeffer agreed that Lee’s schedule – playing a road game on Friday evening coupled with a noon start on Saturday – combined with the lack of subs contributed to some tired legs in the second half.
The schedule for Lee (1-2) opens up a little during the school vacation week with its next game not scheduled until Monday, April 22, at Granby.
Schaeffer said the extra practice time will be beneficial.
“Our defense is completely new players to lacrosse, never played lacrosse before,” she said. “This is our third game. They’re playing good defense but not necessarily getting the ball and running out.I think that hurt us, because we were relying too much on midfielders, and they were getting tired.
“And we were in the gym for a little too long this year. Now that we’re on grass, we really want to practice ground balls and just general endurance because everyone is going to be running the entire game.”
Mount Greylock has been using the first couple of weeks of the season to improve its game by stepping up its level of competition, going to Division 2 Minnechaug and hosting 2023 D2 semi-finalist East Longmeadow.
“We’ve learned about ourselves,” Stripp said. “It exposes your weaknesses. It’s the challenges they represent.
“We were happy at Minnechaug. It was 9-6 at the end of the third, and then the wheels came off (in a 19-8 final). I was really happy with both of those things, because we learned. We got to see a really talented East Longmeadow team on Tuesday. The kids talked about it, and we focused on it in practice: What were some of the good things that they did?
“And it was just nice to get out here and get a ‘W.’ “
Mount Greylock (1-2) hosts Wahconah on Tuesday.
