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Knights fall in state final

BOSTON — For 40 minutes, the North Andover girls lacrosse team did everything it had to do to win the championship. The team stayed within striking distance and the whole time one had a sense that if one or two breaks went their way, the Scarlet Knights could pull it off.

But in the end, those breaks never came, and Westwood simply proved too much.

“It was a hard fought game, we played hard and I couldn’t ask anything else from my girls,” said North Andover coach Meredith Prior. “They went out there, they played our game, and we had them for a while, we definitely had them, and they just came out in the end and did it. But I couldn’t have asked for more from my girls and I’m very, very proud of what they’ve done and what they’ve accomplished in making it here.”

North Andover’s greatest season ever ended Saturday one win short of a title, as the Scarlet Knights fell to Westwood 13-7 in the Division 1 state championship game at Boston University’s Nickerson Field.

Westwood, the South Regional champion and the consensus No. 1 team in the state for most of the season, lived up to its lofty reputation, controlling the possession for most of the game while scoring numerous highlight-reel goals. Despite that, North Andover more than held its own, keeping within one or two goals up until the last 10 minutes, when Westwood (24-1) finally began to pull ahead.

Despite North Andover’s capitalizing on its chances and playing some great defense, the Scarlet Knights were ultimately done in by Westwood’s dominance on the draw control and in transition. Westwood midfielder Andrea Meincke, a 6-foot UMass commit and a 2015 Boston Globe All-Scholastic, was unstoppable on the draw, winning 17 of 22 draw controls. Even when North Andover was able to get a stop, Westwood was able to force numerous turnovers as the Knights tried to bring the ball up the field.

As a result, North Andover didn’t get very many opportunities to settle into a rhythm offensively, but when the Knights were able to get good looks, they did a good job making the most of them.

Abbie Karalis was huge for North Andover early, scoring two quick goals to give the Knights their only lead of the game at 2-1 with 19:24 to play. Westwood came back with three goals to retake the lead — for good as it turned out — but Karalis and Casey Conwell (two goals) did their part to keep things within reach.

Westwood led 6-4 at halftime, and things remained close for the first part of the second half. When Colleen Chittick scored to make it 8-6 with 14:20 to play, it looked like the Knights may have a chance to make something happen in the final minutes.

Unfortunately, Westwood, which won the 2014 championship and lost in double overtime in the final last year, wouldn’t allow that to happen. The Wolverines scored four unanswered goals to effectively put the game out of reach, and then once more after Michelle Poirier scored with 1:56 to play to finish the job.

North Andover finishes the season at 22-4 and as the No. 2 team in the state after reaching the state semifinals each of the past two years.