By Paul Vozzella
Hometown Weekly Sports Reporter
Girls lacrosse faced its toughest challenge thus far on Tuesday but could not prevail. The Rockets lost 18-7 on the road against an undefeated Walpole team to snap a three-game win streak and bring their record to 4-2.
If the first minute of the game was any indication of how things would go, the Rockets were destined to run away with the game. A couple ticks past the one minute mark, sophomore Francesca Adams scored to give her team an early lead.
The game would quickly fall out of the grasp of Needham afterwards.
Walpole turned the table to score nine consecutive goals until captain Emmie Verville tallied another goal for the Rockets to make it a 9-2 affair. Walpole scored twice more before the end of the quarter.
“I think the girls came out really hard,” said head coach Lindsay Hope. “ I think after the first goal, just allowing [Walpole] to score a couple more, it's really just reminding them to keep their head in the game and to continue working really hard.”
With a lot of ground to make up, Needham stepped up to play a back-and-forth game in the second quarter. Captain Sophia Meade scored the first goal of the quarter to cap off an offensive possession that lasted over two minutes.
Needham went on to force a turnover and cap off another lengthy possession with a goal; this time it came from captain Sami Bonastia to cut the lead to 11-4. Momentum was halted after that, as Walpole went on a four goal run to make it an eleven-goal game heading into halftime.
The third quarter saw Needham go scoreless much in due to Walpole intentionally draining out the clock for over three minutes with a series of perimeter passes on the Rockets’ side of the field. By the time the quarter was over, Needham found itself in an 18-4 hole.
Even with a loss seeming inevitable, the Rockets did not falter in the final frame. Meade netted another goal 1:03 into the quarter. After fighting for the remainder of the game, the Rockets managed to score two more times before the final buzzer.
“I think that what's extremely important to recognize is that the girls never gave up and they continued to fight the entire game,” said Hope. “I think we have exciting highlights on our behalf even if the scoreboard was not the way that we expected the game to go.”
Needham was able to bounce back with a 14-4 win over Milton at home before heading into April vacation.
