The Vineyarders girls varsity lacrosse team lost to Bishop Feehan, 12-9, in a battle of top contenders in the Eastern Athletic Conference (EAC) at Dan McCarthy Field on Tuesday afternoon.
With the win, the Shamrocks, now 7-3, are 3-0 in EAC play. The Vineyarders (7-2) slipped to 1-2 in EAC play; both losses were to Feehan. The Shamrocks have three EAC tilts to play. The Vineyarders have two league contests remaining.
Addy Hayman had a second-half hat trick to lead Vineyard scorers. Skya Hathcock and Alexis Condon had a pair each. Sophie McCarron, Lily Pigott, and Louise McDonald had a goal apiece. Lauren Hurley had five goals for Feehan.
This was a battle early. The teams traded goals early in the first half, and were knotted 3-3 when Louise McDonald netted a goal for the Vineyarders that was called back, the first in a series of headscratchers by officials. The Shamrocks immediately went on a tear, scoring three times in just over two minutes to take a 6-3 lead into halftime.
Now make no mistake, Feehan controlled play, won the ground balls and the draws, in the opening half. They play an up-tempo, maniacally physical man-to-man coverage game, and were whistled constantly for infractions, at double the rate of the calls against the Vineyarders.
Should be good for the home team, right? Well, not so much. Four Vineyarder goals were called back in the game, their reward being a “free possession” (think penalty shot) on which they scored twice.
That’s because in high school girls lacrosse rules, play stops when a player in the act of shooting is fouled. In most sports (i.e. basketball, soccer, hockey, and football), the fouled team is allowed to complete the play before the infraction is enforced. So Feehan’s infractions worked to the Shamrocks’ benefit. The officials may have been looking to tone down Feehan’s fractiousness, particularly in the second half, but as an observer you have to ask: What’s wrong with this picture?Whining aside, this was a great one, with outstanding goaltending on both sides. Evanna Quinn had at least 18 saves, several of the point-blank variety. She controlled her crease area, sweeping up ground balls and jumpstarting transition.
Shams keeper Maggie Roberts was equally adept, and had a habit of launching long midfield passes to streaking teammates that resulted in at least one breakaway goal, earning Roberts an assist.
Feehan scored in the first 20 seconds to open the second half for a 7-2 lead before the Vineyarders struck back to close it to 7-6. MVRHS again fell victim to the pesky goal callback rule in turbulent action, with Shamrock body and crosschecks sending Vineyarders to the turf.
Addy Hayman, who had been double- and triple-teamed in the first half, led the Vineyard comeback, and quickly piled up her hat trick.
Midway through the half, the Shamrocks went on another run, extending their advantage to 12-6 before the Vineyarders responded with three goals in the final 10 minutes.
Onward. The Vineyarders next travel to Barnstable on Friday at 4 pm.
