By Mike Flanagan
Hometown Weekly Sports Editor
Always a major player in Division I South, few varsity girls lacrosse programs in Massachusetts have been more consistent throughout the past decade than Westwood.
With almost two full years now having passed since their last season, the Wolverines enter 2021 with a sour taste in their mouths. Due to COVID wiping out the entire 2020 season, the Westwood girls' last game came on June 14, 2019; a 13-8 sectional title game defeat to rival and eventual state champ Notre Dame Academy.
Spring athletes in 2021 will be the first group allowed to compete in a postseason and play for a state championship since the pandemic began last March. With the talent Westwood has coming back, as well as the program's storied history of deep playoff runs, the Wolverines enter as one of the favorites to come out of Division I South and make a run at the state title.
Leading the Wolverines in 2021 will be three senior co-captains: Johns Hopkins-committed midfielder Ashley Mackin, Bryant field hockey-committed defender Abby Crowley and goaltender Anya Holland.
"After losing the chance to have a season last year due to COVID, we are hungry and excited to show what the team is capable of after all of the hard work that everyone has been putting in during the offseason," said Holland when asked about her team's general mindset heading into the new season.
Due to the improvised Fall II athletic season running until the end of April, spring athletes will have a limited amount of time to prepare for the official start of their season. However, the Westwood girls have been able to get together for a limited number of sessions with one another throughout the last several weeks in order to speed up the preparation process and help develop team chemistry. On Friday, the Wolverines scrimmaged rival Medfield at a neutral site, allowing both teams to see real varsity competition for the first time in over two years.
"The Medfield scrimmage went really well," said Holland. "Even though we haven’t played together in a while as a team, I thought our dynamic was very good and we worked extremely well together."
Westwood will open up their season against Medfield at home, this time for real, on May 6 at 3:45 p.m.
For funny and incisive sports analysis as well as video highlights of games, follow Mike Flanagan on his personal Twitter and Instagram handles @flano0.
