18 hours Ago By Michael James Leclair
LEOMINSTER — The Nashoba Regional girls lacrosse team ventured from Bolton to Doyle Field on Thursday afternoon, looking to spoil to Leominster’s home opener.It was mission accomplished for the Wolves, who avoided a fourth quarter squander and escaped with a 12-11 victory over the Blue Devils.Nashoba is now 2-0 on the young season, while Leominster drops to 0-3.
“I was really happy with the way we were playing through the first three quarters. We were creating a lot of turnovers and putting pressure on the midfield,” said Nashoba head coach Kevin Berthiaume. “Offensively, we struggled on Tuesday, but were able to balance our scoring today.
I thought defensively we played pretty well in those three quarters.”Moments after Leominster captain Ella Hersey netted the tying goal with 18 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Nashoba’s Caroline Pinto won control following the faceoff and raced toward the Leominster net. Pinto beat Blue Devils goalie Darranise Hunter (four saves) with a shot with just eight seconds left for the game-winning goal.
It was Pinto’s sixth goal of the game.“We were saved by our captain today,” said Berthiaume. “Caroline is a special player.
She’s the full package. She’s causing turnovers, she wins draws and she creates in the attacking zone.”Six different players scored goals for the Wolves on Thursday.
Helping Pinto on the offensive end was Kate McKenna with two goals, while Aubrey Christian, Sydney Balewicz, Rylee York and Kaycie Vitkofski each scored once for Nashoba.Goalie Lauren Ricketts had six saves for the winners.For Leominster, Hersey scored four goals.
Kailyn Cuddahy and Alana Marchetti each had three goals and Katherine Manchester potted one . Starting goalie Caroline Kelly made six saves while in net during the first half before giving way to Hunter to begin the second half.Leominster’s Kailyn Cuddahy controls the ball during Thursday’s game against Nashoba Regional.
(Sentinel & Enterprise / Alan Arsenault)“It took us a little while but I thought we really came together as a team during that comeback in the fourth quarter,” said Leominster head coach Ken Aubuchon. “The level of play and the communication improved. It’s disappointing to come out of here with a loss after battling back but we’ll just have to keep battling and try to get them next time.
”The Wolves built an 11-6 early in the third quarter before the Blue Devils began to chip away. Leominster scored the next five goals to knot the score in the final moments before Pinto played the role of hero.Not to be overlooked on Thursday was Cuddahy who netted her 100th career goal for the Blue Devils.
It came early in the first quarter when Cuddahy rifled a shot past Ricketts just 1:45 into the contest to give Leominster an early 2-0 lead at the time. Nashoba responded with five of the next six goals to take a 5-3 lead after the first quarter. The Wolves stretched it to a 9-6 advantage heading into halftime and 11-7 after three quarters.
The Wolves return to action on Friday when they visit Westboro, while the Blue Devils travel to Wachusett Regional on Tuesday..
