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By Michael Flanagan
Hometown Weekly Sports Editor
The 2017 season ended with about as tough of a loss as they come for the Dover-Sherborn Regional High School girls varsity lacrosse team, as the No. 4 -seeded Raiders fell, 11-10, in double-overtime to arch rival and No. 5 Medfield in the Division II East quarterfinals.
This season, the Raiders will look to get back to the state tournament and earn some vindication in the postseason following the tough end to the 2017 campaign.
With players such as 2017 leading goal-scorer Emma White and Madeline Shue having graduated, DS will need to plug up some significant holes in their midfield and find new sources of offense. However, back to lead the Lady-Raiders into battle in 2018 is a pair of versatile and skilled senior co-captains in Cricket Simms and Maggie Green.
“We have a pretty new team,” said Simms when asked about the general outlook of the 2018 Lady-Raiders. “We lost so many seniors last year who were a big part of our team, so we’re definitely going to need some time to build chemistry but it’s a group that Maggie and I have high confidence in. We have a lot of young talent coming in. We should be pretty strong.”
Along with the two captains, DS also returns another key piece in senior goaltender Natalie Groseck, while sophomore Annie Alfieri will serve as a backbone on the defensive core.
Headlining the DS midfield are Simms, Green, and freshman Hope Shue. On attack, the Raiders get back the versatile skill set of senior Barrett Laird.
As far as goals for the upcoming season, Simms says she and her teammates don’t want to get ahead of themselves, but the thought of beating rivals Medfield and Hopkinton is certainly appealing.
“A goal that we have is to pick right up where left off last year,” said Simms. “We definitely want to beat our rivals, Medfield and Hopkinton.”
At the time of print, the Lady-Raiders will begin their quest back to the state tournament on April 3 against Wellesley before hosting Algonquin Regional on April 5.
For funny and incisive sports analysis, follow Mike Flanagan on his personal Twitter at @fLAno0, or read his blog at www.flannylive.wordpress.com.
