LYNN — When you glance at the list of names on the South roster for Wednesday’s Agganis All-Star girls lacrosse game, you notice an abundance of offensive talent. With some of the Northeastern Conference’s best scorers in Grace Arthur, Lydia Bongiorno and Kiana Napolitano on the team, the South was built to put the ball in the net.
That’s exactly what it did in a 21-11 win over the North all-stars at Manning Field.
But, said South coach Annie Madden of Marblehead, the No. 1 goal was to have fun.
“That’s the No. 1 thing about the Agganis game,” Madden said. “It’s about having fun and celebrating all things lacrosse and all the hard work these seniors have put into their careers. Having multiple scorers is just an added bonus. Allowing for everyone to showcase their skills is one of the beautiful things about our game of lacrosse.”
Bongiorno, who Madden coached for four seasons at Marblehead, earned game MVP honors for the South.
“Lydia’s a talented midfielder,” Madden said. “She’s going off to Brown and she’s going to do wonderful things there. She’s aggressive all across the field and her presence makes a difference.”
Ipswich’s Hannah Heron was named the North’s MVP.
North coach KC Butt of St. Mary’s coached three of her Spartans, Sherly Feliz, Madi Hentosh and Lauren Vaccaro, one last time.
“Having three of them out there was great,” Butt said. “It’s a great game. Seeing that much talent on both sides is really awesome. It was a lot of fun and it’s a great way to end a great season of spring lacrosse.”
The North ran out to a swift lead in the opening minutes of the first half. South’s Lily Cunningham (Melrose) scored the game’s first goal 15 seconds in but the North scored four of the next five tallies, taking a 4-2 lead. Arthur (Marblehead) and Alivia Burke (Saugus) followed with consecutive South goals, knotting the score at 4-4 with 9:30 left in the half. The South proceeded to score the next four goals, two from Napolitano (Revere) and one each from Bongiorno and Arthur. North’s Ruby Melvin (Gloucester) found the back of the net, closing the gap to 8-5. A pair of South goals stretched the lead to 10-5 before Hannah Rinehart’s (Methuen) tally sealed the half. The North trailed 10-6 at recess.
Napolitano and the South didn’t take their feet off the gas in the second half. They put together a 6-2 run through the next 10 minutes, giving themselves a 16-8 advantage. Emily DiGiulio (Revere) added to the South’s lead when picked up an assist from Arthur and cashed it in. The lead stretched to 10 goals, 18-8, on another Napolitano tally with 12:07 remaining.
That was more than enough for the South to take things easy through the closing minutes.
Both coaches enjoyed participating in the Agganis game.
“We had a lot of fun,” Butt said. “We had a great group of girls and it was nice seeing them all come together like that.”
“It’s wonderful to see all the programs come together and celebrate girls lacrosse,” Madden said. “The strength of the girls lacrosse athlete has really improved over the course of my coaching career. I’m really impressed with how the skill level has improved.”
