Westwood girls, Walpole boys wear state crowns
Westwood celebrates its title victory. (Barry Chin / Globe Staff)
We were live at Commerce Bank Field at Foley Stadium in Worcester, where Westwood won the Division 1 girls' lacrosse title with an 11-10 triumph over Longmeadow, while Walpole stomped over St. John's (Shrewsbury), 17-8, to capture the Division 2 boys' title.
Check out the brief recaps below (look for more online and in Saturday's Globe) or replay our live scoring blog after the jump. Video highlights can be viewed here.
Division 1 girls: Westwood 11, Longmeadow 10
Longmeadow scored six of the game's first seven goals while dominating the first 20 minutes of play, but Westwood erupted for eight of the next nine goals to pull ahead and held on to repeat as Division 1 state champions with an 11-10 triumph.
Kelly Rich paced the Wolverines with four goals and three assists, sparking the comeback with some tough-angled shots in traffic. Her unassisted goal with 14:40 remaining gave Westwood its first lead at 8-7 and it never gave that lead up.
Longmeadow scored twice in the final three minutes to make it interesting, but Westwood played keep-away to prevail. Junior midfielder Erica Nangeroni potted the winner off a pretty feed from Rich with 5:05 to play.
Sophomore Sarah Biron added three goals for the Wolverines, while senior netminder Abbie Brown made a trio of key stops late in the game to help her team emerge with the crown.
Junior Paige Cuscovitch paced a balanced Longmeadow squad with three goals. Paula Shea and Lauren Halpern added two goals apiece.
Rich called this title a little sweeter because "no one expected us to be back here."
Division 2 boys: Walpole 17, St. John's (S) 8
Walpole scored on its opening possession, setting the tone for a night in which it dominated the faceoff cirlce and seemingly scored at will en route to a lopsided 17-8 triumph over St. John's of Shrewsbury in the Division 2 title game.
After a nail-biting, overtime triumph over Reading in the sectional semifinals, Walpole's final two games proved to be a bit anticlimactic. The Rebels dispatched Concord-Carlisle, 11-7, earlier this week at Harvard Stadium. Things got even breezier in Worcester.
Walpole scored five of the game's first six goals and boasted a 12-4 advantage at halftime. What's more, the Rebels struck for the first three goals of the second half to push their lead into double digits before putting it on cruise control to the finish.
A balanced attack saw seven different players score, including three goals from both Kyle Guilbert and Ryan Izzo. David Butts contributed four assists and did the majority of his damage in the faceoff circle, where he and Izzo dominated St. John's drawmen.
"It's like they say, 'If they don't have the ball, they can't score,'" said Butts.
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Look for updates from:
- Bob Holmes: A Reading resident (Go Rockets!) and Boston College graduate, Holmes is the Boston Globe High School Sports Editor. We remind you now that his weekly picks are often made in jest so everyone just calm down when he picks against Everett for 11 straight weeks.
- Mike Carraggi: An Everett native (Go Tide!), Mike attends Eastern Nazarene college and is entering his second year with the Globe. He'll focus on Division 1 this fall, which means he'll spend a lot of time in his hometown, which Forsberg thinks is cool because the Tide have that Fried Dough cart.
- Emily Wright: A Hyannis native (Go Barnstable Red Raiders!), Emily is a senior at Emerson College and has been with the Globe since the end of July. She'll cover Division 1A and will be the first intern we've trusted to navigate her way to Dennis-Yarmouth or any other school on the Cape.
- Mike Grossi: A Lexington native (Go Minutemen!), Mike attends Northeastern and has been with the Globe for two months. He'll cover Division 2 and 2A and unsuccessfully lobbied to include Lexington in the preseason Top 20.
- Jonathan Raymond: A native of Benicia, Calif. (a suburb of San Francisco), Jonathan attends Northeastern and has been working at the Globe since the end of June. He will be focusing on Division 3 and is likely woefully underprepared for covering a game in a foot of snow.
- David Carty: A native of West Bridgewater (Go Wildcats!), David is a senior at Emerson College and has been working at the Globe for a year. He'll cover Divisions 3A and 4 because, "small school ball is in my blood."
- The bench: You'll also catch updates from our regional contributors, including Globe North's Julian Benbow and South's Monique Walker. Correspondent Brendan Hall will have updates from the Globe West coverage area and will often try to sneak in Central Mass. news.
