PEABODY — There wasn’t a lot of suspense in this one, but Peabody’s girls lacrosse team defeated Masconomet 16-6, in what will be remembered as a day for the record books.
Senior captain Brooke Lomasney did what no other player in the history of Peabody lacrosse has done – eclipse the 400 mark for career points. Lomasney, who finished with five goals and four assists, accomplished the feat with 29 seconds left in the first quarter after she threaded the needle to Victoria Vaz alone in front of the net, who slammed it home.
Last year as a junior, Lomasney broke Lauren Wolff’s 2017 record for career points (252). Lomasney now stands at 406 points with a school-record 255 goals and 151 assists.
Lomasney said she couldn’t have done it without her teammates.
“It’s very exciting,” said Lomasney, a Stonehill College women’s lacrosse commit. “I was driving down in transition and was going to drive in for a shot, but then I saw Victoria in the corner, so I hit her and she hit the net and scored. Obviously, anything I do is totally a team effort. Without them, I never would have been able to accomplish what I’ve done these past four years, so I owe a lot to them for helping all of us become better players over the years.”
Tanners’ head coach Michelle Roach said Lomasney had no idea that she was on the verge of cracking the 400-point milestone and that it was fitting she did it with an assist.
“That was amazing,” Roach said. “Brooke has worked so hard over the last four years and she had no idea it was going to be today. We kept it a secret from her. That’s indicative of the type of player she is. She’s very humble and she didn’t know she was even close. She’s been a great leader on this team for four years and I am so incredibly proud of her.”
“That she did it on an assist, was extra special. Yes, she’s scored a lot of goals, but she has also had a significant number of assists. She spends a lot of time dishing the ball to teammates and I think it’s great that the 400th point was an assist,” Roach added.
As far as the game goes, the Tanners had a balanced scoring attack with six players scoring goals. Senior captain and Vassar College commit, Ally Bettencourt, had a strong all-around game with four goals, two assists, and five ground balls. Fellow senior captain Madi Barrett finished with three goals and one assist and Vaz finished with two goals and one assist. Ari Alverado (goal, assist) and Leah Bresnahan (goal, assist) also scored.
Senior captain, Mai Davis, had a strong defensive game with five ground balls and three takeaways. Senior captain, Connie Patturelli, chipped in five ground balls, while sophomore Sophia Kassis had three. Freshman, Sophia Galbiati, also had a strong defensive game with a couple of takeaways, including a big one in the closing minutes when Masconomet was making a run.
“We played lockdown D for most of the game and were limiting their shots and shot selection by forcing them to shoot from further out and by not letting them get the ball in front of the net,” Roach said. “We had some really great saves by Caitlin Snow (13 saves) who played really strong today. We got up really quickly, but I think we eased off a bit, especially with the draw. Masco came to play hard all four quarters and we needed to put it together so I was happy we reset.”
Roach praised the performances of Galbiati, Davis, Patturelli, and Kassis.
“She had two or three steals today and it’s only her fourth game with us,” Roach said. “Maia also had a great game and Connie also played well and Sophia Kassis also played back there for a little while. We have two new defenders, Sophia Galbiati and Sophia Kassis, who previously played attack. It’s good to see the confidence they are playing with so early in the season.
Peabody took control early, jumping out to a 6-0 lead after the first quarter and led 9-1 at the half and 11-2 going into the final quarter. The Chieftains made things interesting when trailing 12-2, they ran off four straight goals over minutes in the middle of the quarter. However, Barrett, Vaz, Lomasney, and Bettencourt (free position shot) restored order to keep Masconomet at bay.
Masconomet coach Jalen Aho said getting behind early has been a major problem for the Chieftains.
“That’s been our MO of late,” he said. “It takes us a long time to get going and buy into the game plan so there is a lot of confusion on the field. There’s been an unwillingness to get tough right at the jump so we get beaten to ground balls. Once we get down a few goals, it’s like, now we have to play. When we stick to our core principles and practice what we preach, we look like a good team, but it’s just tough always playing from behind.”
Peabody (3-1, 3-0 NEC) is back in action at Marblehead on Wednesday with a 4 p.m. start.
“It’s a strong program that is well-coached,” Roach said. “We have such strong coaches in the NEC that we know that every game is going to be a battle and I expect that will be the case Wednesday.”
