Caroline Whelan (16) turns and cuts upfield during Walpole High girls lacrosse's Bay State Conference semifinal match with Natick on Thursday. Photos by Mike Flanagan.
By Mike Flanagan
Hometown Weekly Sports Editor
Walpole High girls varsity lacrosse took to Turco Field last Thursday night looking to advance to their first-ever Bay State Conference championship game. Walpole was able to get the job done, but it came at a cost.
On the game's opening face-off, Walpole's offense suffered a significant blow as junior face-off specialist and midfielder Natalie Griffin suffered a season-ending knee injury and needed to be carted off. Following the pause in action, Walpole took a 3-0 lead following goals by Brianna Fruci on a free-position restart, Bria Foley immediately off the ensuing face-off win, and a dump-in at the crease by Jess Tosone.
Natick called a timeout and responded with a 5-0 run. With Walpole held scoreless for nearly an entire quarter, Maggie Mahoney finally put a stop to Natick's run with a great solo effort to force a steal before driving to the cage and firing home a shot stick-side low to make it 5-4 with 41 seconds to play in the half. Natick maintained their one-goal edge at halftime.
Following a quiet first two quarters, UMass-committed midfielder Caroline Whelan completely took over the game in the second half for Walpole. Just 34 seconds into the third, Whelan cranked home a goal up high to tie the game at five. Just 18 seconds later off the ensuing face-off win by Foley, Whelan fed a pass to Lauren Wong at the crease for a nifty little dump-in goal to give Walpole back the lead at 6-5. Just 11 seconds after that, Foley won a face-off, dashed in, and faked out a series of Redhawks before depositing home a goal up high to make it 7-5. The three-goal barrage forced Natick to a timeout and quickly swung all momentum in Walpole's favor.
Following the break, Brigid Welch scored off a restart to make it 8-5 with 10:17 remaining in the third. Natick went on a quick 2-0 run to trim the lead down to 8-7, but Whelan and Foley countered with back-to-back goals in the final 3:15 to give Walpole a 10-7 lead heading to the fourth quarter.
Welch put home her second of the night off a feed from Whelan just 50 seconds into the fourth to make it an 11-7 game. Natick cut the deficit to 11-8 off a free position restart before Tessa Curtis finished an outside feed from Whelan at the net-mouth to push Walpole's lead back to four at 12-8. Whelan completed the second half hat trick with 3:12 remaining to seal it at 13-8. Natick scored a pair late, but it was not enough to mount a comeback. Walpole prevailed by a final of 13-10. Whelan finished the night with three goals and four assists.
For funny and incisive sports analysis as well as video highlights of games, follow Mike Flanagan on his personal Twitter and Instagram handles @flano0.
