ITEM PHOTO: KATIE MORRISON
St. Mary’s Codi Butt, right, gets some air as she battles Newburyport’s Molly Rose Kearney for a loose ball in the first round of the Division 2 North girls lacrosse tournament on Tuesday.
By KATIE MORRISON
NEWBURYPORT – The St. Mary’s girls lacrosse team ran into a very talented Newburyport squad in the first round of the Division 2 North tournament, getting knocked out with a 24-8 loss at Newburyport High.
The No. 5 Clippers jumped out to a fast lead, scoring three times before the No. 12 Spartans could even hold possession for more than a few seconds.
With 15 minutes gone in the first half, Newburyport held a commanding 8-0 lead. St. Mary’s goalie Brittany McPherson was kept busy and came up with some huge saves. One save, on a shot from point-blank range, was the catalyst for the Spartans’ first goal. St. Mary’s picked up possession off the rebound, and senior Maggie Flaherty went straight to the net, firing a shot past Newburyport goalie Molly Laliberty.
Sarah Ryan added another Spartans’ goal just second later. Ryan picked up a loose ball off the faceoff and weaved through the Clippers’ defense to get St. Mary’s within six.
But every time St. Mary’s began to catch up, Newburyport would put more distance between themselves and the Spartans.
St. Mary’s scored three more times in the half, with goals from Liz Weisse (Flaherty with the assist), Sophya Fuccione and Kaylin Deschenes. Deschenes and Ryan also had assists in the half. The Spartans went into the break down, 15-5.
The second half was much of the same story. The St. Mary’s defense struggled to find an answer to Newburyport’s Cescily Wheeler (8 goals) and Molly Rose Kearney (6 goals). Deschenes scored her second goal early in the half off a pass from Fuccione, and Codi Butt scored her first as St. Mary’s won a faceoff and drove to the net before the Clippers defense could get set. Mady Hentosh capped the Spartans’ scoring midway through the second.
McPherson continued to turn away plenty of Newburyport shots, but the Spartans couldn’t climb back into the game.
The Spartans were overmatched, but St. Mary’s coach KC Butt is proud of her team for competing against a program that’s on another level.
“I think the biggest thing is that a team like (Newburyport) has a feeder program, and unfortunately now, in some of the communities we come from, we don’t have a feeder program, and we’re working on that,” said Butt. “I think these girls are an amazing group of ladies, and I had to teach the game to a few of them. Some of them had never played, some of them have played two years. To come out here and play this caliber team and score eight goals on them, I’m proud of them.”
While it stings to get knocked out of the tournament, Butt knows that it’s all a part of the slow process of building up the program, and says she’s going to miss the seniors who helped get the Spartans to the postseason.
“My seniors, I’m going to miss especially, because they stepped up and did a great job,” said Butt of seniors Flaherty, Erin Mahar, Ellie Martin, Deschenes, Fuccione, Courtney Cassidy and Taylor Capozzi. “My goaltending has been awesome. It is what it is. We’re building. We’re going to build a program.”
The Clippers will take on another Catholic Central League team, No. 4 Bishop Fenwick, on Friday.
