SWAMPSCOTT — New faces, seven Daily News All-Stars and four Division 1 collegians graduated out over the past two years, and it still doesn’t matter.
Newburyport is headed back home.
For the third straight year, the Division 3 girls lacrosse state championship game will feature the powerhouse from High Street. Second-seeded Newburyport made that a reality on Wednesday night from Phillips Park in Swampscott, holding on late to beat No. 3 Bedford in the semifinals, 13-12. The Bucs nearly made the comeback and forced overtime, getting two goals in the final 51 seconds with a strike from Jane Whitesides coming with 1.5 left on the clock.
But, obviously, that wasn’t enough time to find the potential equalizer, and a chance at redemption now waits for the Clippers.
“I’m so proud of every person on our team,” said Newburyport senior co-captain Grace Chandler. “Every single person is the reason why we’re here today, and why we’ve made it back to the championship game. I’m just so proud of everyone and how hard they’ve worked throughout the year. Everyone has improved so much.”
And it sets up a final that should look familiar.
Friday night at Babson College with a 7:15 p.m. scheduled start, Newburyport (17-5) will once again play top-seeded Medfield (21-3) for the championship. It’ll be a rematch of last year’s title game — even down to the same seeds — where Medfield won, 14-10, to stop the Clippers from going back-to-back after their 2023 crown.
“This is such an amazing feeling,” said fellow Newburyport senior co-captain Reese Bromby. “We just won that game, but the next game is going to be such a battle. Everyone needs to come out at 100 percent. Today we had great energy coming into this game, and I feel like we have a chip on our shoulder after losing last year. So if we go into the next game with the same exact chip and edge, I think we’ll do well.”
That war of a rematch, though, will have to wait until Friday.
Wednesday’s semifinal wasn’t the prettiest lacrosse you will ever see, with both sides making over a dozen unforced errors and turnovers. But when the buzzer went off and the clock hit triple zeroes, Newburyport had done enough to punch its third straight finals ticket. And it was also a rematch from a regular season game between the two, which the Clippers won, 12-9.
“I’m so proud of them,” said Newburyport coach Catherine Batchelder. “To be back in the final game is obviously a huge accomplishment, but we really need to play a better game on Friday night if we want a chance to win. But our girls know that. I think a lot of what happened today showed our inexperience a little bit, but at the same time, a lot of the young girls really stepped up this game. Amanda (Linteris) had a strong game, Amelia (Price) really had a strong game, and then Reese really helped to carry us again. Then Cody (Saboliauskas) had some huge saves for us.”
As it turned out, Newburyport needed every goal and save.
Bedford (11-10) actually won three of the four quarters on Wednesday night, and held a 3-2 lead after the first. But during the second, the Bucs went away from main draw taker Olivia O’Brien, and between Bromby, Emily Chandler, Callie Harris and Phoebe Whitcomb, Newburyport won six of the first seven draws of the frame. The result was a 7-0 run that put the Clippers up 9-3, with Bromby (6g, 1a), Linteris (3g, 1a), Price (2g, 1a) and Avery Tahnk (1g, 1a) all finding the back of the net to build the cushion.
Bedford would go back to O’Brien late in the quarter, and she would win a draw before scoring on a free position to make it 9-4 at halftime.
But the damage had already been done.
“Our main players on the draw have made such an impact this season,” said Bromby, who takes them all for Newburyport. “Emily (Chandler), Callie (Harris), Phoebe (Whitcomb) and now Ani Mellet have all stepped up, and I feel like they’ve all done such an amazing job.”
With O’Brien back in taking the draws, Bedford flipped the possession script and opened the third on a three-goal run to immediately make it a game again at 9-7. But Bromby would win one before firing home her fifth of the game, then after the Bucs scored, she found her sixth to make it 11-8 heading into the fourth quarter.
The first goal of the final frame was going to be huge, and it went to Price to put Newburyport up, 12-8. The Clippers would hold that four-goal lead — trading goals to make it 13-9 — until there was just over two minutes left, before Bedford would end the game with a three-goal flurry.
But the Bucs ran out of time.
And for a final note, speaking to the game being played at Phillips Park in the first place, Newburyport wasn’t too happy with that decision.
“I’d be remissed if I didn’t say how absolutely ridiculous it was that we were playing a Final Four game on an illegal field,” said Batchelder. “This field is too short, it’s not lined correctly, and the MIAA needs to do better for their girls lacrosse programs.”