BERLIN — Stephen Decatur’s girls’ varsity lacrosse team took control early in its game with crosstown rival Worcester Prep on Thursday, withstood a comeback attempt by the Mallards and ultimately cruised to the 10-3 win in the annual neighborhood clash.
Players from both teams are familiar with each other from youth leagues and travel teams, making the annual meeting each season special. The series has gone back and forth over the years with neither team gaining much separation over each other, but in Thursday’s rivalry game, the Seahawks were clearly in control.
Decatur jumped out to an early and took a 4-0 lead into halftime. However, Worcester battled back for a time during the early portion of the second half, leaving the outcome very much in doubt for the big bipartisan crowd on hand in Seahawk stadium.
Decatur’s Alyssa Romano fires a shot on goal.
After a relatively low-scoring first half, goals by both teams came fast and furious during the early portion of the second half. Just two minutes into the second half, Worcester’s Remi Howard scored to cut the lead to 4-1. Decatur answered just one minute later on a nice goal by Ellie Dutton off an assist from Brittyn Leonard.
Worcester came right back with a great shot by Gracie Gardner with 21:17 remaining to cut the Decatur lead to 5-2. Again, Decatur had the answer with a goal by Sarah Engle off a beautiful assist by Dutton to push the lead back to four goals at 6-2.
Chloe Sass of Decatur is pictured in front of Worcester Prep’s goal Thursday.
Worcester’s Delany Abercrombie then scored on an unsettled situation on front of the Decatur goal with a put-back to cut the lead to 6-3 with 20:24 remaining in the half. After a rather slow chess match of sorts in the first half, the two teams combined for five goals in less than five minutes to start the second half, and the big bipartisan crowd that had been casually watching throughout much of the contest suddenly had their attention focused on the field as the game drew closer.
However, Abercrombie’s goal to cut the lead to 6-3 with over 20 minutes remaining was as close as the Mallards would get. Decatur’s Abby Yesko scored with 16:22 remaining to extend the Seahawks’ lead to 7-3.
Decatur’s Leonard then scored on a nice move from behind the goal to extend the Seahawks’ lead to 8-3 with just over 13 minutes remaining. With the clock ticking down. Less than 10 seconds later, Yesko scored again to extend the lead to 9-3 and the contest was slipping away for the Mallards.
There was not quit in Worcester, however, as the Mallards continued to force the issue on the offensive end. The Seahawk defense was stout and turned away the Mallards’ late comeback attempt. Decatur’s Chloe Sass closed out the scoring with a goal with just 22 seconds left to extend the lead to 10-3. When the clock ran out, the Decatur girls celebrated the 10-3 win over their crosstown rivals.
