By Avonlea Cummings
Hometown Weekly Sports Reporter
The Westwood girls lacrosse team celebrated Senior Day on Monday, May 13, for their eleventh Tri-Valley League game of the regular season against the Ashland Clockers. The Wolverines defeated Ashland 16-7 and as of this game, they hold a 14-3 record.
In the first quarter, Charlotte DeMaio was the first to spark the momentum for Westwood. Caroline Nozzolillo struck next, followed by Emilie DeMaio just minutes afterward. Ashland was left silenced as the quarter wrapped up, and Westwood closed the time 7-0.
Headed into the second, Westwood struck again, pinpointing their shots to slip past Ashland’s goalie and into the net. The Clockers then put in two consecutive goals on Westwood to slim Westwood’s lead to 9-2. Despite Ashland’s efforts to keep possession, Wolverine’s Charlotte DeMaio snuck the ball back into Westwood’s offensive zone and ripped it into the back of the net, leading Westwood 10-2. Ashland didn’t stay quiet the rest of the quarter; the Clockers closed out the half with the final two tallies, making the score 10-4.
Closing the second half, Westwood regained control of their defense in the third and knocked in three consecutive goals from Charlotte and Emilie DeMaio and Caroline Nozzolillo. Westwood maintained possession for the majority of the period, but with under three minutes left in the third, Ashland netted a goal once more. The Clockers weren’t the last to score in the quarter, however, as Charlotte DeMaio flung another shot into the goal with .27 left, making the score 14-5.
Then, in the fourth quarter Ashland struck for blood first at 10:48. Westwood senior Hillary Noble responded to Ashland’s quick attack and tallied up another goal for the Wolverines three minutes after the Clocker’s first goal. Later, Westwood’s Kate Sullivan broke through Ashland’s tight defense and pocketed the last goal of the evening for Westwood, making it 16-6. Just two minutes later, Ashland had the final say in the competition and flung in the last goal of the evening. Westwood finished the game on top 16-7.
Head coach Margot Spatola shared that the team has grown significantly this season, and she hopes they can take their recent successes into their next game against Medfield, a team who they previously lost to in the beginning of the season: “I think it’s important that we look to this game to what we need to carry forward because we lost to Medfield a month ago. Not take that with us, but take the recent successes with what we have been working on, and take the past few weeks and growth that we’ve made across the board. On defense, midfield, offense, just in general I think everyone has grown. We have a relatively young team, just recognizing what everyone’s worked on, and moving forward with that,” said Spatola.
Westwood won their game against Medfield 16-15 on May 16th. The Wolverines graduate Vivian Bean, Katherine Krumsiek, Ava Krouson, Ava Kelly, and Hillary Noble.
