Seibel, Lady-Warriors making noise

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By Michael Flanagan
Hometown Weekly Sports Editor

Looking at the MIAA Division II East girls lacrosse bracket, the easy picks to advance to states are No. 1 Wayland, No. 2 Groton-Dunstable, or No. 3 Foxborough.

This past week, the Medfield Lady-Warriors tossed their hat into the conversation of legitimate contenders in Division II East with consecutive victories over No. 11 Watertown (23-9) in the first round on Tuesday before upsetting No. 3 Foxborough (8-6) on the road on Thursday to advance to the sectional semifinals.

Against Watertown, it took just 19 seconds for Harvard-bound basketball star Maggie McCarthy to get Medfield on the board, as the senior captain fired home a goal off of transition to seize the early 1-0 lead. Just 39 seconds later, junior attacker Erin Seibel fired home a goal off of a free position to double Medfield’s lead to 2-0. McCarthy struck again just moments later with 21:40 left to make it a 3-0 game.

Watertown got one back to make it a 3-1 game before Seibel performed a little fake-low and shot upstairs to make it a three-goal game once again with 17:39 to play. Following a goal by Watertown, Seibel completed the hat trick with 14:57 remaining to make it 5-2. Off the ensuing faceoff, Seibel dashed in and fired home a bouncer to make it a 6-2 game. Sophomore midfielder Erin Cooney extended Medfield’s lead to five goals with a dart down low off of a free position before McCarthy completed her hat trick with a dodge from behind the cage and finish down low to make it an 8-2 game.

A goal by Watertown with 11:18 to play in the half made it 8-3, but McCarthy again delivered a quick response for the Warriors with a goal off of transition to push the lead back to six. Senior captain and attacker Brooke Deady put the Warriors in double figures just moments later, before Cooney potted home another off of a feed from Seibel to make it an 11-3 game. Seibel’s fifth of the game with 2:19 to play, before freshman Erin Sullivan fired one home off of transition with 11 seconds remaining, gave the Warriors a commanding 13-4 edge at the half.

Watertown netted back-to-back goals to begin the second half to cut the deficit to 13-6, but from there it was all Medfield. McCarthy launched home a goal off of a fast break to push the lead to 14-6 before Seibel’s sixth of the day off of a feed from McCarthy made it 15-6 with 19:15 to play. Seibel was not done, as the junior star received a feed at the crease from McCarthy and performed a beautiful fake before firing the ball home via the five-hole to push Medfield’s lead to 16-7 with 15:50 remaining. Cooney completed her hat trick to make it 17-7 before another from Seibel made it 18-7. Deady fired home a pair to complete her hat trick along with a pair from freshman Kelly Morrison and another from Seibel as the Warriors prevailed with a loud 23-9 victory.

In all, Seibel finished with nine goals and four assists while McCarthy netted four and dished out seven assists. Four different Warriors finished the game with hat tricks (Seibel, McCarthy, Cooney, Deady).

On Thursday, the Lady-Warriors built off of the momentum from the win over Watertown and earned an 8-6 victory at No. 3 Foxborough to keep their season alive.

At the time of print, Medfield gets set to take on No. 2 Groton-Dunstable in the East semifinals. If victorious, they would face the winner of No. 1 Wayland and No. 4 Dover-Sherborn in the sectional finals later this week.

For funny and incisive sports analysis, follow Mike Flanagan on his personal Twitter at @fLAno0, or read his blog at www.flannylive.wordpress.com.