BEVERLY — When visiting Manchester Essex came out and scored three quick goals in the first quarter against her squad Tuesday night, Beverly High girls lacrosse coach Courtney McKallagat did not panic.
She just waited for her Panthers to find their adrenaline. Once they found it, those good vibes never stopped flowing for the Orange-and-Black.
Beverly countered that early Hornets’ run by scoring nine straight goals and dominating play for the final three-and-a-half quarters en route to a 17-4 non-league victory Tuesday at Forti Field.
“I knew if we kept (the goals against) down early, we could turn it on offensively once we got our adrenaline under control,” said McKallagat, whose team, ranked 13th in the state’s latest Division 1 power rankings, improved to 11-1 overall.
“As much as we have experience, it’s young experience,” she added. “Last year we relied on a large senior class, whereas this year everyone is stepping up with contributions all over. Once we find the key to what’s working in a particular game, we ride that.”
Tuesday night, that was keeping the bench rolling, with fresh players coming onto and off of the field regularly so that the Panthers always had fresh legs in the lineup. That led to an onslaught of goals, plus much better defensive play in front of senior goalie and captain Madeleine Reynolds (8 saves).
Ashley Wallace led the Panther parade offensively with five goals and one assist. Madz LeBlanc added three goals and assists, with siblings Sasha and Annabelle Miller each had two goals and one assist, with fellow junior Cameron Koloski also scoring twice.
Gwendolyn Jones also had a huge night in the win, scoring once and assisting on four others. A pair of freshmen, Marisa Hutton and Meghan Potter, added single tallies, with one assist credited to the third Miller triplet, Charlotte, as well as CC Blank and Morgan Linskey.
“You love to see balanced scoring,” said McKallagat, whose team has scored 166 goals in a dozen games and has not given up more than seven in any of them.
“Other teams look for Sasha to be a big part of our offense, and she certainly is,” continued McKallagat. “But when she’s double- or triple-teamed, she simply looks to feed an open teammate. I also thought Annabelle’s goal late in the first quarter (with 4.9 seconds left) really lit a spark under us; she found a no-angle shot and put it home, tied things up and set us on our way.”
Playing for the third time in four days, the Division 4 Hornets (now 7-5) just weren’t able to keep pace.
“They’ve got a lot of offensive and defensive power,” said first-year Manchester Essex head coach G.G. Huet of the Panthers.
“It wasn’t our best showing, but no discredit to Beverly; they’re a very talented team. There isn’t any one player you have to worry about; they have talent all over the field. No team is scoring a lot on them; their defense and their goalie (Reynolds) are very, very impressive.”
Freshman Wren Lewis, senior Abby Kent, and junior Shields Edgerton all converted in the first quarter to stake the Hornets to a quick three-goal lead. But as Beverly found its offensive stride and won the majority of draw controls, the tables started to turn.
Unbeaten in Northeastern Conference play with four league games remaining (plus non-leaguers vs. Billerica and Andover), the Panthers naturally want to win their league and finish with as high of a ranking as possible before the state playoffs start in three weeks.
“I think as a team to get better, we want to find that smooth start,” said McKallagat. “We haven’t yet hit the point where we start off smooth; we’re waiting for that spark to happen. Finding that smooth start for ourselves will let us to be at ease from the beginning rather than wait for that spark.”
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