By Hannah Becker, Globe Correspondent

The Westwood girls' lacrosse team got out to a fast lead and never relinquished it, defeating host Ashland, 17-4, in Tuesday afternoon’s Tri-Valley League clash.
 
Within the first five minutes, the Wolverines took a 5-0 lead that came from won draws and offensive possession. Westwood (10-1) ran a series of set offenses that stifled the Ashland (8-3) defense.  After the Wolverines’ sixth goal, a snipe from senior captain Shelly Walsh at 19:07, the Clockers called a timeout.
 
Westwood scored three more times to take a 9-0 lead, before Ashland got on the board. The Wolverines were led by senior captain Laura McHoul’s four goals and one assist, but had a balanced scoring attack with four players recording two or more goals.
 
“Everybody has a job and every settled play and every offense is set up for a particular player,” Westwood coach Leslie Frank said.
 
But with eight minutes to go the Clockers set up their defense and were able to limit Westwood’s attack. Ashland’s improved defense also paid off on the offense end as they netted their first goal at 10:22 after sustained offensive pressure. The score was 11-2 at halftime.
 
With the strong lead, Westwood was able to allow some of their non-starters to work on some of the set offensive plays.
 
“We do a lot of settled offense, so we tried to pull some more players into that so everyone knows that offense,” Frank said.  
 
Defensively, the Wolverines closed Ashland’s passing lanes and made it difficult for the Clockers to gain any momentum moving up the field. Both in transition and in the set defense, Westwood doubled the ball.
 
“We have several settled defenses and one of them is putting a double on the ball, so we were working on that and everyone has to adjust to that and pick up the open girl and not let that cut get through,” Frank said.