Stonington girls upset No. 1 East Lyme, 12-10, in ECC lacrosse tournament final
Bears upset East Lyme, ending Vikings’ string of tourney titles at 11
East Lyme — Cat Cassata gave Stonington a 1-0 lead just 36 seconds into Thursday's game against 11-time defending Eastern Connecticut Conference tournament champion East Lyme. No fear there. And so while the game went back and forth for a half or so, the Stonington High School girls' lacrosse team came with the feeling it could win against East Lyme, should win.
And the third-seeded Bears proceeded to do just that, upending East Lyme 12-10 and halting the Vikings' dominant string of titles. Stonington avenged a 16-5 loss to East Lyme in last season's ECC title game and a 14-9 defeat at the hands of the Vikings on April 19 of this season.
"We were all hyped up all day long," said Cassata, a senior. "We talked about it in our group chat that we should try to contain our energy and save it for the game.
"So, individually, we all had our best games throughout the season. Today, we all had to bring our A game. We were ready. We watched some of the boys' game (the boys' and girls' ECC title games were played as a doubleheader at East Lyme) and it pumped us up."
Cassata, who finished with four goals, three in the first half, was named the James J. Courtney Most Valuable Player of the title game. She also was one of a pair of Bears, joining Emma Sabbadini, who had the privilege of dumping the water bucket over Stonington coach Jeff Medeiros, who immediately began shivering in the chilly night air.
It was Stonington's first ECC tournament title.
"I don't mind freezing right now," said a jubilant Medeiros. "Not until
there was 30 seconds left did I feel it was over. Then I grabbed my assistant and said, 'We got it.'
"We knew we could. We knew it was possible. We feel we have a state championship-caliber team. We are proving it when we need to be."
Sabbadini, Kate Johnson and Hannah Lamb added two goals each for Stonington (14-4). Karlie Rowe had seven goals and an assist for East Lyme (11-7).
Stonington took a 7-6 lead at halftime on a goal by Lexi Woviotis with 1 minute, 42 seconds remaining and Cassata and Lamb scored to make it 9-6 in the Bears' favor with about 17 minutes remaining, forcing the Vikings to chase them.
Caroline Healy scored on an assist from Julia Bates to pull East Lyme within 9-7, but Stonington's Olivia Feliciano came back with one to make it 10-7. East Lyme coach Phil Schneider said his team, as has been the case oftentimes recently, failed to generate much offensively in the second half.
"Congrats to Stonington. Jeff does a nice job," Schneider said. "They beat us. We did the same things we did the other night (a narrow East Lyme win over Bacon after Schneider pointed out a lack of offensive punch this season). Like I said, everybody gives us their best game.
"We turn the ball over at inopportune times. We played well defensively and well in the midfield ... it's typical of our season."
Leading 7-6 headed to the second half, Schneider sensed that Stonington would try to shorten the game by possessing the ball more in the second half.
"It's a possession game," Schneider said. "If you don't get draw control, it's hard to get possession back. That's the game. That's the girls' lacrosse game." v.fulkerson@theday.com