Wednesday, May 24, 2017 EL, Stonington take different paths to final

No. 1 Vikings roll while No. 2 Bears have to rally

Stonington — Down by a goal with time running out Tuesday, Stonington coach Jeff Medeiros changed the hat he was wearing, hoping for a little change in momentum.

As it turns out, momentum is something the Bears are good at.

A week after coming from six goals down to edge Waterford for the Eastern Connecticut Conference Division II championship, Stonington found itself behind against the Lancers once again before scoring six straight goals for a 14-11 victory in the ECC girls' lacrosse tournament semifinals.

Stonington trailed 10-7 with 10 minutes, 19 seconds to play.

The second-seeded Bears (143) advanced to meet No. 1 East Lyme (15-2), the 10-time defending champion, which topped No. 4 Montville 19-5 in the second semifinal.

"My team never gives up," Stonington's Kate Johnson said of yet another comeback. "We work as hard as we can the entire time. My team's so good at not being selfish."

Stonington, which trailed 6-4 at halftime, tied the game 6-6 before watching Waterford score three straight for a 9-6 lead.

Cat Cassatta was the next to strike, however, pulling Stonington within 10-8 and Margit Burgess made it 109 less a minute later. Johnson tied it 10-10 and Cassatta gave the Bears' an 11-10 lead with 6:18 to play on a free position, firing low and drawing a fist pump from Medeiros, who had already undergone his wardrobe change.

That's when Johnson, taking the draw for the Bears, made sure they retained momentum instead of giving it back to the Lancers.

"We knew that possession was key; their team's so talented," said Johnson, Stonington's center midfielder.

It being so key, how did Johnson go about making sure Stonington had possession off the draw?

"I try to tell my teammates around the circle where I want them," Johnson said. "They know what I do. We were trying to get a first step on Waterford. It does take practice, for sure. Or say if I lose the draw (previously in the game), I can say, 'I know what she's doing now.'"

Johnson's draw control led to a goal by Zoe Robert just 11 seconds later and the Bears kept it rolling with a goal by Hannah Lamb to make it 1310 with 4:51 remaining. Waterford's Megan Sturm broke the rhythm with a goal to pull the Lancers to within 1311, followed by a Stonington timeout with 2:51 to play.

Johnson won the ensuing faceoff, letting Stonington kill some of the clock.

Lamb finished with three goals and an assist and Johnson with three goals for Stonington. Emma Sabbadini had two goals and an assist and Burgess and Cassata had two goals each.

Molly Banks made six saves. Medeiros also used freshman Kate Reagan to defend Waterford's Jacklyn Lavoie, who had eight goals in the previous meeting against the Bears.

Julia Gigliotti had four goals and an assist for Waterford and Grace Briggs and Kaylee Swansen had two goals each.

"The first half, we weren't good. The second half, we were good," Medeiros said. "We really cleaned it up in the second half. We talked about, 'We were beating ourselves.' ... We did what we needed to do. It took a whole period to get to it (the comeback). The defense did their job."

In the second game, Hailey Gordon scored six goals for East Lyme, Karlie Rowe five and Elena Hynes had three goals — including one behind the back — and an impressive seven assists.

East Lyme led 12-0 before Montville's Alyssa Turchetta got the Indians, making their first ECC tournament appearance, on the board. Turchetta had three goals and an assist. Montville (10-7) was the ECC Division II co-champion.

"You've got to give Montville a lot of credit," East Lyme coach Phil Schneider said. "They wanted to win, just like we did. They showed a lot of determination."

It was the second straight game Hynes recorded seven assists for the Vikings. Hynes, an all-state selection last year, is going to play next season at UConn.

"She's definitely playing well," Schneider said. "She's an assist person for us.

“The girls make some nice catches; she puts it in some tight spots. She's a Division I player." v.fulkerson@theday.com