It was smooth sailing for the Manchester Essex boys and girls lacrosse teams on Monday afternoon at Hyland Field.
Both hosting Wahconah Regional for Division 4 state tournament action, the girls squad rolled to a 17-5 victory while the boys were right on par with a 17-3 triumph of their own shortly thereafter.
The boys’ win was the start of what they hope will be a lengthy playoff run, with the dominant decision securing them a spot in the Sweet 16. The girls, meanwhile, had already easily come out on top in their opener, with the latest win sending them to the Elite Eight where they’ll head to rival Hamilton-Wenham on Wednesday at 5 p.m.
“We have been so excited (to face Hamilton-Wenham) since the day the bracket came out, and we wanted to win these first two games to get to them,” said Hornets’ girls coach GG Huet, her team now 13-6. “We are so excited, we’re so ready; I’ve never seen a group of girls want something so bad so we’re gonna go prepare and show up and give them a good game.”
The Manchester girls group lost both regular season meetings to the CAL-leading Generals — 13-9 and 18-12 — but considering the way they’ve performed down the regular season stretch and to open the playoffs, it wouldn’t be wise to rule out a revenge win come Wednesday.
The Hornets admittedly started a bit slow on Monday against Wahconah, leading just 3-1 after one quarter and 7-2 at the half. But they found their groove after the break, netting three unanswered goals to open the third before cruising to the finish line from there.
Senior captain Abby Kent set the tone — as she usually does — erupting for seven goals on eight shots while securing seven draw controls to boot. Freshman standout Wren Lewis added four goals while Stella Lage had a hat trick. Laila Ciaramitaro chipped in with a team-high three assists to go with one goal, while Harper Brooks (goal, 5 draw controls, 4 ground balls), Shields Edgerton (goal, assist) and Joss Twombly (goal, 5 ground balls) all contributed at a high level as well.
“I thought we started off a little bit slow, started playing their chippy, check game style which is not really our game,” admitted Huet. “But once we got going and played our game instead of theirs we really did well.
“We’re very well conditioned, too, and you could tell the other team was getting tired and we weren’t,” she added. “Everyone was talking about how they’re the No. 11 seed, they’re the sleeper, and the Boston Globe was talking about how they’re one of the favorites. That really motivated us.”
As for the boys, it was a workmanlike performance from start to finish.
The Hornets never left any doubt, erupting for nine straight first quarter goals to put the game out of reach early on. By halftime it was 14-0, and Wahconah didn’t find the back of the net until the six minute mark of the third quarter.
“We’ve been off for over a week now so it was good to come out and feel like we were focused and ready to play four quarters of lacrosse,” said Manchester boys coach Wes Chittick. “We moved the ball really well and it felt like we were looking for assisted goals. Guys were dodging hard and dodging with their heads up to find open teammates, so that was good to see throughout that first half and into the second.”
Luke Renzi started off hot, netting a hat trick in the first quarter before he and the rest of the Hornets’ starters gave way to some bench players in the second half.
Turner Valeo (2 goals, 2 assists), Matt DeOreo (2 goals), Jack McCavanagh (goal, 2 assists), Charlie Thurlow (goal, assist), Noah Cohen (2 goals, assist) and freshmen Bodin Carovillano (2 goals, assist) and Quinn McLain (goal, assist) all finished with multiple point efforts, too, while Conrad Garfield (goal), Charlie Mannal (goal), Hayden Wood (goal) and Aaron Crompton (assist) all contributed offensively as well. One of Valeo’s goals was particularly impressive, as he slotted one home on a behind the back sling off a feed from McCavanagh in the second quarter.
Chittick also highlighted the play of both Luke Murphy and Danny Brophy on faceoffs down the stretch, as well as fellow subs Sam Webber offensively and Christian Cooper defensively.
“All you’re guaranteed in this season are these 48 minutes right now, so you have to go out and play with great enthusiasm and intensity to earn those next 48 minutes and we’re thankful to be able to do that today,” said Chittick. “It’ll be a pretty short turnaround for us, the games come at you fast and furious in the state tournament, so it was good to see that we were able to get some guys some rest in this game. It’ll be an important day of practice (on Tuesday) and in preparation for the next game.”
Manchester’s next test will come back at home against No. 14 Nipmuch Regional — a 9-3 winner over Fairhaven in Round 1 — on Wednesday (time TBA). The Hornets made it all the way to the state Final Four last spring and would love nothing more than to one-up that run with an equally talented group this time around.