BILLERICA OPENS WITH AN EXCITING VICTORY
Indians rally in fourth quarter to edge visiting Winchester
BILLERICA >> Apparently, the girls lacrosse teams from Billerica and Winchester didn’t get the memo.
In a chilly season high school opener on Saturday morning at Billerica High, there wasn’t much in the way of first-game jitters.
Instead, the teams hooked up for a back-and-forth battle that ended with Billerica on top, 119, and both squads with plenty to build on as the spring campaign kicks off.
“Our whole season is going to be like this,” said Ashley Tsoukalas, Billerica’s coach. “But I think it’s going to be a really good testament of putting our hearts and our minds together and seeing what we can bring.”
“We wanted to start off with a strong team,” said Winchester coach Suzanne Ontso. “I thought our goalie did a great job and our defense stepped up.”
It was a thrilling finish for BMHS, which trailed 9-6 after a Winchester goal just 1:21 into the fourth quarter before the Indians scored the final five goals.
“We had a good talk about some of the discipline we needed to have,” said Tsoukalas, a former standout for Billerica, about the comeback. “In the fourth quarter, it was whoever showed up with more heart was going to win the game.”
With 9:14 left, BMHS senior Audrey Toce converted a great pass from junior Sara Macleod to make it 9-7. Less than three minutes later, Toce scored again when she finished a feed from sophomore Cora Lankowski.
The Indians tied the score with 4:26 remaining on a goal by Macleod. Fifteen seconds later, Macleod put away a nice assist by sophomore Cassandra Gallagher and with 2:44 to go Macleod added one more, her fifth of the game, to give Billerica
a two-goal lead and force a Winchester timeout.
“They had a very, very strong goalie and I think we had to capitalize on moving her and getting her out of her comfort zone,” Tsoukalas said.
The Indians were able to kill the remainder of the clock.
“This tells us we can hang with a team like that,” said Ontso. “But we can absolutely do better. That’s what I said to the girls, we have to execute. That’s the big thing.”
The first three quarters saw
Winchester with the better of the scoring. Down 4-3 early in the second quarter, Winchester scored the next three goals to lead 6-4 at halftime. The Red and Black still led after three quarters, 8-6.
Maggie Shevland had five of Winchester’s six first-half goals while Ava O’gorman had the other when she converted a nice pass from behind the BMHS cage by Izzy Arangio.
Billerica goals in the first half came from Macleod and junior Sophia Jannoni, who had two apiece. Junior Mia Barros added an assist.
Toce and sophomore Kendra Marino scored for Billerica to start the third quarter and tie the score at six, but Winchester answered with tallies from Arangio and Callie Westerfield make it 8-6. Ally Lobello then gave Winchester a 9-6 lead early in the fourth before Billerica came storming back.
Billerica’s defense stepped up down the stretch, outscoring Winchester 7-3 in the second half including a scoreless final 10 and a half minutes.
“We have a very strong, solid returning group on defense,” said Tsoukalas. “They are smart, they’re disciplined and they do a lot to add to our transition up the field. It’s a strong group that’s going to make it very hard for a lot of teams to score on us.”