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A test of stamina: Vikings outlast Sachems

Thursday, May, 08 By Evan Mugford
Staff writer

The Triton girls lacrosse team must be exhausted.

During the warmest stretch of the season, the Vikings had games on three consecutive days against teams that were all looking for important wins.

On Monday, the Vikings faced a Wilmington team desperately looking for its first victory; Triton persevered, 18-11.

On Tuesday, Triton faced steeper competition in Cape Ann League Division 2-leading Georgetown; Triton lost 12-7.

With yesterday's 13-12 win against Division 1 Pentucket (7-4) | a team loaded with offensive firepower | Triton assured itself of having an extra spring in its collective step this morning.

Kristie Davis made 18 saves for Triton (8-4) in yesterday's win. Vikings coach Stacey Beaulieu was worried that her team wasn't going to be up after the tough loss against the Royals Tuesday.

"I think the loss to Georgetown kind of deflated them," said Beaulieu. "They started to wonder if they truly belonged with some of the best teams in the Cape Ann League."

A seesaw, back-and-forth contest all game long, the Sachems struck first and second thanks to nice passing by Calley Yocum, and finishes by K.C. Jones. 

The Vikings' resolve wasn't swayed and thanks to some nice defense led by Tarra Wallace, Triton rolled out four unanswered goals to push ahead 4-2. The first two goals came seconds between one another when Sarah Peterson found Sara Nardone at 18:34, and Karly Kennedy assisted Peterson at 18:13. The next two came on unassisted strikes by Nardone and Peterson that seemed to exhibit a crack in the Sachems' defense.

Pentucket (playing without Lyndsay Beaton and Heather Thomas) stormed back when at 9:21 Brianna Yokum bolted from end to end and found some room past Davis. Mere seconds after that, Sarah Evans found the sweet spot and tied the game at 4-4.

Some solid defense by both teams had possession switching at midfield, and when the Sachems finally gained control, Davis deflected a one-timer that looked like a sure goal. But the Sachems attackmen were persistent, and soon used some momentum to go ahead 5-4 off a Kayla Jewett score. Unfortunately for the Sachems, that was the last tally they would earn in the first half, whereas Triton was beginning to warm up.

Crisp ball movement had Nardone scoring at the 4:05 mark. A nicely executed out-of-bounds play helped Peterson score again. Then with 1:07 left in the half, patient ball movement by Triton had Peterson finding Michelle Godfrey, building the Vikings halftime lead to 7-5.

After a brief rest, the Sachems, who are still vying for a postseason berth, started the second with great energy and began to bear down on the Viking defense. After a nice save by Davis, Evans pounced on the rebound and netted one home at 23:40. The Vikings answered back only 20 seconds later when Nardone fired one in, but again the Sachems continued their onslaught when after yet another stop by Davis. Jewett corralled the miss and chipped the lead down to 7-6 at 22:17.

With a surging Pentucket impetus, the Sachems tied the game at 8-8 when Jewett scored at the 21:35 mark. Then soon after that, Sarah Galligan scored, prompting the Sachems to once again reclaim the lead.

As the action on the field progressed, it seemed like the Sachems were beginning to get wherever they wanted and a Viking defense was finally succumbing after three straight games. But after some nice passing, Triton tied the game again when Erin Curley scored at 20:04.

Only 30 seconds later, a rocketing Kennedy swooped down the field, curled around the Pentucket net and notched home a goal amidst a roar of Vikings fans and teammates to push ahead, 10-9.

Davis' denial of Sachem shots was beginning to become the norm, and the Vikings' time of possession was slowly increasing thanks to some adept passing. However, as was expected in such a tight game, the Sachems regained control and patiently sought out another clutch goal by Jones at 14:23.

Once again tied, a nice series of patient Triton offense and defense was soon all for naught when a visibly more polished attack by Galligan broke the stalemate. Regrettably for the Sachems, at 9:14, Nardone knotted things at 11-11. Again though, as Pentucket continued to do all game, it charged back and took the lead off a Jewett goal with 8:50 left. 

It was last goal Davis would surrender.

After a bloodied Nardone had to leave the game, an eager Amanda Atherton filled her place, and scored a huge game-tying goal with 5:37 off a free possession. With emotions swinging in Triton's favor, Curley scored the clincher with 4:53 left, and thanks to smart coaching and careful passing, the Vikings held on for the hard-fought victory.

Senior captains Michelle Godfrey and Amanda Desjardins were enthused with the full team effort, as well as finally beating Pentucket.

"We've never beat them before, and finally getting a victory feels great," stated Godfrey. "They always kill us."

"This win puts us that much closer to winning the CAL," said Desjardins. "We know how to pick each other up when we're down and it really worked well today."

"Kristie did a great job today, she was amazing," explained Godfrey."She came up with some amazing saves that kept us in the game."

Beaulieu was very proud of her team's ability to rise to the pressure.

"They played so well against a really talented and well-coached team," said Beaulieu. "I think this win gives the girls a ton of confidence. I know these girls can play with the big dogs, and we needed this win to stay in the hunt."