Agganis South girls lax gets win

LYNN – Offense tends to come at a premium in most all-star contests and the third edition of the Agganis Girls Lacrosse Game proved no exception as the South won 23-12 on Tuesday evening at Manning Field.Marblehead?s Sydney Cayen headed the attack, scoring four of her six goals in the first of two 25-minute halves on the way to being named team MVP.?I only started playing lacrosse as a freshman, so being nominated just to play in this game was amazing,” explained Cayen, who shared a final game with Magicians coach Annie Pugh. “It was such a change of pace from a regular-season game, but it meant a lot to me to be able to play for Coach Pugh one last time. I had a lot of fun out there.”Cayen?s first tally gave the South a 2-1 lead at 21:25, just 49 seconds after North MVP Tianna Habosian (Westford Academy) scored the first of her four goals. Fenwick?s Annette Ruggiero made it 2-2 at 20:21.Winchester?s Laney Laghetto opened the scoring at 22:47.The game would remain close until five goals in the final 3:35 opened up a 13-5 lead for the South. Alicia Cuoco (King Philip) began the surge before Emily Freedland and Cayen, her Magicians teammate, finished 37 tics apart.Cuoco and Alexis Miller (Winchester) added goals in the final minute, the latter with two seconds remaining. Miller and Freedland each tallied twice in the half to go along with solo tallies from Abigail Greene (Bishop Feehan) and Mary Grace Cronin (Arlington).?Offensively, we played very well with smooth, crisp transitions,” lauded Pugh, who also praised her side?s defensive effort. “All of these girls deserve to be here and they showed why tonight.”Habosian?s second of the night at 13:25 came just over a minute after teammate Rachel Trocchi (Danvers) made it 5-3. Tessa McLaughlin (Fenwick) capped the North?s first-half scoring at 4:13.After Cayen opened the scoring 1:06 into the second half, the North scored four consecutive goals in a span of 1:58 to cut its deficit to five. Erica Mattila (Westford Academy) and McLaughlin scored 1:12 apart before Habosian scored back-to-back goals.The South?s five-minute drought came to an end with tallies from Greene and Alaina Ewing (Winchester) before Ruggiero and Miller exchanged tallies, the latter at 16:50.Cronin provided the game?s prettiest goal three minutes later with a rocket to the top left corner after a low, slinging release from the high slot.Julianne Piatelli (King Philip) and Miller sandwiched a tally from Erin Hatch (Billerica) at the 12:19 mark, a little over two minutes before the South?s lead hit double digits on a finish by Greene.McLaughlin and Cayen exchanged tallies with three minutes remaining before Greene?s fourth of the night capped the scoring in the final seconds.Despite the final score, North coach Al Eaton (St. Mary?s) had nothing but good things to say about his first Agganis experience.?I had a lot of fun getting to know some of the area?s top-of-the-line talent,” he explained. “It was a beautiful night for a lacrosse game at an amazing facility and I?m sure everybody had a great time.”