By Avonlea Cummings
Hometown Weekly Sports Reporter
On Saturday, March 23, a cold and rainy morning greeted participants at the Westwood Flahive and multi-purpose fields. However, the inclement weather failed to diminish the enthusiasm for the Westwood girls' lacrosse playday. The event welcomed teams from Medfield, Dover-Sherborn, Needham, Wellesley, Notre Dame, Hingham, Natick, Norwell, and Franklin High Schools for a morning of scrimmages aimed at refining skills before the regular season.
From 8 AM to 12 PM, each of the ten teams engaged in three scrimmages on the two Westwood fields, fostering team bonding and reacquainting players with on-field dynamics. Coaches took advantage of the opportunity to assess player versatility, rotating athletes through various positions like attack, midfield, or defense.
Westwood girls faced off against Norwell High, Franklin High, and the Wellesley Raiders, focusing on honing offensive and defensive strategies to thwart scoring opportunities from their opponents.
Head coach Margot Spatola emphasized the importance of the scrimmages in preparing the Wolverines for the regular season, aiming to build cohesion and connectivity among players on the field: “Honestly, we don't know what we are going to have until the first day of tryouts. We know who graduated, who’s coming back, but newcomers, we don't fully know what to expect. How much they prepared, and all of that. Our goal of today and any scrimmage before the season is to start to really get that playing time together, to start connecting, figuring each other out, and working together,” said Spatola.
A team consisting of five seniors, six juniors, five sophomores, and two freshmen, Coach Spatola expressed her excitement about having her five seniors on the team take leadership roles. She also shared details on how she can rely on her seniors to set the tone of the season and lead by example: “We have five seniors, Hillary Noble and Ava Kelly are our captains, Katie Krumsiek, Ava Krouson, and Vivian Bean are our three other seniors as well, and a lot of what they do is lead by example. They play hard and work hard, and it’s so easy to just point to them when you’re trying to explain something to an underclassman. Having that experience they can speak to and encourage the underclassmen with that, they’re doing a really great job of getting everyone going, we’re fortunate there,” said Spatola.
Last year, the Westwood girls had a very successful season, making it to the Division II State Championship round of the postseason. Coach Spatola expressed that this year’s team remembers the success of their predecessors but hopes that they will realize their own potential and become ‘this year’s team’; “We had some superstars who graduated, I think this team remembers them, and other former players brought to the team and program, but this team should be using that as inspiration for what we do this year… We are never going to replicate anything else, I hope this year’s team works together to realize their own potential,” said Spatola.
Come out and support your Westwood Wolverines as they open up the season. The girls will travel to Medfield on Thursday, April 4, at 5:30 PM to play against the Warriors. The following day, Westwood will host Hingham High, Friday, April 5, at 4 PM on the Flahive field. To learn more about the Westwood girls’ lacrosse schedule, view Arbiter Live at: https://www.arbiterlive.com/Teams/Schedule/9309767
