The Manchester Essex girls lacrosse team finished out the regular season strong, winning four of their last five games including a 10-9 triumph over Lynnfield and a 20-5 drubbing of Essex Tech in their final two.
Now it’s on to the Division 4 state tournament, where the Hornets earned the No. 6 seed with an 11-6 overall record. That means at least two home games loom for head coach GG Huet’s squad to open things up.
First up, Manchester will host No. 27 Old Colony Regional Tech (13-5) at Hyland Field on Tuesday at 5 p.m. A win there would land them in a Sweet 16 matchup against the winner of No. 11 Wahconah Regional (16-2) and No. 22 Hopedale (14-2).
Manchester has continued their winning ways under its first-year coach, Huet, who was suiting up for the Hornets herself not too long ago. Senior captain Abby Kent leads the way this spring with 61 goals and 14 assists while causing 30 turnovers, scooping 21 ground balls, and dominating the circle with 129 draw controls.
Stella Lage has been another steady contributor, chipping in 33 goals and a team-high 27 assists. Laila Mears, Harper Brooks and freshman Wren Lewis have also enjoyed stellar campaigns while Annie Kent (20 caused turnovers, 22 ground balls), Annie Prinn and Teyah Fleming anchor the defense in front of goalie Elizabeth Virden.
Sandwich (15-3) earned the top seed in the D4 bracket, followed by fellow Cape Ann League powers Ipswich (13-3) in second and Hamilton-Wenham (12-2) in third. Another CAL program, Lynnfield (10-8), landed at fifth in the draw. For what it’s worth, Manchester beat Lynnfield twice this season (17-16 & 10-9) while falling to both Ipswich (15-7 & 14-5) and H-W (13-9 & 18-12) in both meetings.