MARBLEHEAD — If there’s one thing you can take away from Monday afternoon’s game between the Magicians and Manchester Essex, it’s that Marblehead won’t quit until the final buzzer.
The visiting Hornets came to Marblehead and walked out with a 7-5 win. Despite the loss, head coach Annie Madden was proud of the team’s fight from start to finish.
“I think [the fight] is the thing I’m most proud of,” Madden said. “Watching the girls fight and play clean lacrosse, for both teams, we really made sure we didn’t give up no matter what the score was.
Manchester Essex got off to a strong start, scoring three unanswered goals within the first nine minutes of the first half. Even though the Magicians were in an early hole, their heads never dropped and they kept attacking.
One of the things Madden said she liked about her team’s performance was their transition game.
“I feel like transition is what our game is all about… being able to move the ball quickly and finding that next pass,” Madden said. “At practice we’ve been practicing cutting and going to where the ball is going to be.”
The Magicians showed their excellent transition game as they recovered the ball in the defensive end and traveled across the field, exchanging crisp passes before the ball found Gretchen Smith. She made no mistakes and scored her second goal of the game to make it 5-3.
“Being able to clear the ball out of our defense end has been something we’ve been working on, and we did a great job being able to transition that ball today,”
After a Hornets goal with 12 seconds left before halftime, the Magicians won the face-off and rushed to the other end. Madison Forbes got possession of the ball and rifled in a shot that beat the Hornets goalie as the buzzer sounded to go into the half down 6-4.
In the second half the goals were sparse. Madden believes it was due to both teams trying to execute the “best option.”
“I feel both teams were taking time off the clock and were trying to find the best option, not the first option,” Manning said. “Sometimes that means it’s a low-scoring game in lacrosse, which makes it more exciting.”
Unfortunately for the Magicians, the Hornets struck first in the second half to give them a 7-4 advantage.
Marblehead continued to fight and got a goal back with 26.3 seconds left after Sydney Langton scored, but that ended up being the last goal for the game.
“It was our second game of the season and I’m really proud of the way we played,” Madden said.
Madden praised her defense today, especially the Magicians’ freshman goalie, Addison Lydon, who finished the game with eight saves.
“Defensively we played well, moving with the cutters and making sure that we were able to protect the goalie. Addison came up big today and made some really big saves,” Madden said.
Marblehead will look to pick up their first win on Thursday when they travel to Ipswich, with the game scheduled to start at 4:30 p.m.
Scoring leaders (Marblehead)
Langton (1 goal, 1 assist)
Ramona Gillett (1 goal, 1 assist)
Forbes (1 goal)
Smith (2 goals, 1 assist)
