WALPOLE — It was senior day for Walpole girl’s lacrosse, but the team had no need to shift its focus once the game started.
That’s because the No. 5 Timberwolves were hosting No. 2 Wellesley, and they jumped out to a quick lead before holding steady and taking a 14-9 Bay State Conference victory.
Walpole coach Mike Tosone said the rivalry between the schools has been strong for about the past decade, but the past five years have belonged to the Raiders. His team was determined to end that this season, and getting it done on senior day was icing on the cake.
“(Senior Day) was not a distraction that was going to take away any of our focus because we have had miserable success against Wellesley,” Tosone said. “I didn’t even worry about that.”
The team quickly took a 2-0 lead and then scored four of the next five to hold a 6-1 lead halfway through the opening half. A key to this was dominance on draw controls, ground balls and possession.
“Ground balls and draw controls, next to the score itself, is the most meaningful statistic,” Tosone said. “We played very well tonight and that was an enormous piece of the game. I’m not surprised when they do a good job with the gritty things.”
The Raiders stormed back with four of the final five goals of the half and struck quickly in the second half to cut the deficit to one. That is when the Timberwolves’ offense got to work, scoring six of the next seven and putting the game out of reach. A late push from the Raiders was stopped, and Walpole took the victory.
The Timberwolves were led by senior Brigid Welch and sophomore Caitlyn Naughton, who had four and six tallies, respectively. Both credited the fluidity of the offense as a key to their success.
“We have an insane offensive line,” Welch said. “When we pass it around and get open, it works.”
“We are patient with each other and know what our assets are,” Naughton said. “We just wait for each other, work together and wait and see.”
Grace Hagen, Taylor Carter, Sophia Fruci and Ava MacLean were the other scorers for Walpole. Wellesley had three goals from Kaitlyn Uller, and two goals each from Tara Battaglino, Sydney Moore and Abby Beggans.
As the Timberwolves prepare for a postseason run, Welch said the biggest takeaway from the day will be repeating the intensity level.
“We really need to carry this energy into the next game and then the playoffs,” Welch said. “You can tell a difference in our high-energy games. There’s been a few games where we haven’t come out strong, but we did today, which helps us in the long run.”
