By Ken Chaisson
Hometown Weekly Staff
Walpole’s top seeded girls’ lacrosse squad ran away from the 33rd seed Marblehead Magicians, 21-7, in the first round at home on Wednesday.
Walpole opened the scoring as expected lighting the lamp just 22 seconds into the game as senior Ava MacLean fed senior Grace Hagan. They scored again at the 10:25 mark as MacLean fed junior Riley Halloran to double the lead. It was 2-0 ninety seconds into the game.
But then the Magicians pulled a rabbit out of their hat scoring to make it 2-1. Would this be a competitive match between the top seed and a much lower seed?
That was not to be as the Lady Timbs poured it on in the first period. Halloran scored two more followed by Grace Hagan’s two goals. The quarter ended with the Lady Timbs up 11-3.
Walpole’s offense was not a surprise but surrendering three goals to Marblehead was puzzling. Especially when Marblehead held the ball for nearly the first two minutes of the second quarter before potting their fourth goal.
Things were about to change. Walpole head coach Mike Tosone and Walpole made sure that.
Marblehead never scored again throughout the second and third periods. Their next goal was in the middle of the fourth quarter when both teams had emptied their benches.
In the meantime, Walpole’s offense kept pouring it on. When the score reached 14-4, the running clock rule kicked in. Walpole went into halftime comfortably ahead, 15-4.
Walpole raised the score to 20-4 by the end of the third period. By the time the score reached 21-4, the clock couldn’t run fast enough.
The offensive accolades were led by Grace Hagan who racked up six goals and six assists. Her twin sister, Emily, also earned a double hat trick. While MacLean didn’t register a goal, she did contribute seven key assists. Halloran notched five goals and an assist. Senior Emily Dunn had a full house of three goals and two assists. Senior Emma Hanifin also scored.
Walpole was scheduled to play 17th seeded Marshfield next at Walpole High on Sunday May 31. The games get progressively more difficult from here.
