BERLIN- Worcester Prep’s girls’ varsity lacrosse team had a topsy-turvy week, falling to old rival Saints Peter and Paul on the road last Friday before rebounding with a pair of impressive wins.
The Mallards traveled to Easton to face Saints Peter and Paul last Friday in the second of what could be a three-part trilogy with their familiar rivals. Worcester beat the Sabres, 16-10, at home back on April 15, but traveled to Saints Peter and Paul last Friday for the Sabres’ Senior Day.
In a tight contest, Saints Peter and Paul edged the Mallards, 9-7, in another classic in the long-running series. Leigh Lingo led Worcester with three goals, while Melissa Laws scored twice and Grace Tunis and Karlie Southcomb added single tallies. Each year, the Mallards and the Sabres seem to face each other three times, with the third typically the ESIAC title game and this year could be no different.
The Worcester girls had little time to dwell on the tough loss to the Sabres on Friday. They were back in action on Saturday at home against Polytech for their own Senior Day and cruised to the 19-10 win.
On Monday, the Worcester girls faced Sussex Tech at home for their third game in four days, but showed little signs of late-season fatigue. The Mallards led 6-2 early in the contest before a late first-half run decided the issue. With 14:40 left in the first, Tunis made a nice move in front of the Sussex Tech goal and converted the opportunity for a 7-2 lead.
Just 14 seconds later, Cameron Langeler got open on the crease and fired home a shot to extend the lead to 8-2. Caroline Pasquariello scored with 13:12 remaining in the first to push the Mallards’ lead to 9-2. With the big lead, Worcester was content to slow down the offense and run some clock.
With 3:22 remaining, Southcomb slashed through the Sussex Tech defense and scored to make it 11-2. Worcester held the ball for nearly the entire last three minutes of the first half before Lingo fired home a shot with just 29 seconds remaining to extend the lead to 12-2 at the half. Worcester was content to slow down the game and play reserves through much of the second half and pulled away for the comfortable 19-5 win.
Worcester is now 14-3 on the season. The Mallards will face another familiar rival on Friday when they travel a couple of miles to face neighborhood rival Stephen Decatur. Players from both teams played together in youth leagues and travel teams. Last year, Decatur won 14-10 at Worcester, but the two previous meetings were each won by the Mallards and each by just one goal including an overtime thriller.