It was there for the taking for the Pentucket girls lacrosse team.
If you would have told the Panthers that heading into the fourth quarter of Saturday’s game, they’d be tied with rival Ipswich with a spot in the Division 4 Final Four on the line, they would have taken it and ran. Of course, it’s been 15 long years since the Panthers last beat the Tigers, and this year’s senior-laden team was eager to put some past misfortunes behind them and break that streak.
But some demons are just too tough to overcome.
With four minutes left in Saturday’s Division 4 quarterfinal game, No. 2 Ipswich found what ended up being the game-winning goal to unfortunately hand No. 7 Pentucket another heartbreaking playoff defeat, 9-8. It’s a victory that sends the Tigers — the Div. 4 state runner-up the past two years — back to the Final Four, while on the other side the Panthers have now lost by one goal in the state quarterfinals in three of the past four seasons.
That, however, shouldn’t be the story.
For this eight-person Pentucket senior class, it’s an outstanding group that won 58 games during its tenure, and three quarterfinal runs is nothing to scoff at. Athletes like Cat Colvin (Hobart), Kat Flaherty (Endicott), Ella Palmer (University of Tampa), Kate Conover (Saint Anselm), Sydney Trout (Duke), Abbie Felzani, Carsen Ventola and Sam Beegan have been playing together and with the varsity program since Day 1, and, as you can see, a handful of them will continue to play the sport at the next level. This year’s team beat rival Newburyport for the first time in 10 years, and was a goal away from slaying another giant that’s been impossible for the program to get by.
But it just wasn’t meant to be.
During the two league rival’s lone meeting in the regular season, Ipswich (17-2) won 10-5. Things, however, looked a bit different on Saturday, when three goals from Palmer and two each from Conover and Colvin had Pentucket (17-6) ahead 7-5 at halftime. So already in just a half, the Panthers had scored more goals against the Tigers than they did during the first game. Then with Flaherty, Morgan Gallant and Allie Gagnon leading the defense in front of Ventola in net, along with Katherine Wisniewski handling her business in the draw circle, the Panthers were in position to finally get the job done.
Ipswich, however, proved to be too experienced in the big moments.
Colvin would finish her hat-trick to put Pentucket ahead 8-7 with 42 seconds left in the third, but Ipswich was able to find a tying goal before the quarter ended. The two team’s traded possessions in a physical fourth quarter, but the lone goal of the frame — which proved to be the winning goal — would go to the Tigers.
Despite the heartbreaking result for the Panthers, a milestone was still hit. Palmer did see her high school career come to an end, but not before her hat-trick put her at 200 career goals.