BURLINGTON – All season long, the Central Catholic High girls lacrosse team’s quest has been to get to the state championship game.
After sophomore goalie Annie Cashman made four top notch saves early on, coupled with tremendous play in front of her by her defense and some timely goals by the attackers, the No. 1 seed Raiders edged out No. 4 seed Concord-Carlisle, 11-7, in the Division 1 state semifinal game played Monday night at Burlington High School.
Central Catholic now has to beat No. 2 seed Wellesley on Thursday night (site and time to be announced) in order to complete that ultimate mission of bringing the state championship trophy home to 300 Hampshire Street.
“Heck yeah,” shouted Cashman from the top of her lungs, when asked about getting to Thursday’s state final.
Cashman was the star in this game making 15 total saves. She made the four in the first few minutes of the first quarter to keep it scoreless. Then with Central clinging onto a three-goal lead with five minutes left in the fourth quarter, she went down and blocked an 8-meter shot which all but sealed the Patriots’ fate.
In front of Cashman were four defenders – Delaney True, Ciara Donlan, Bella Angluin and Maeve DeLisle, who were all absolutely phenomenal throughout the game, including shutting down Concord-Carlisle’s Willow Cyr, a University of California at Berkley commit.
“Our defense was absolutely phenomenal,” said Pino. “They all were standouts today. They played their hearts out and Annie was a monster back there in net and all of our defense really, really worked hard and played so great tonight.”
Offensively, Kerri Finneran led with four goals, while, Kierstyn Zinter, Abby Yfantopulos and Nicolette Licare had two each, and Jacqueline Tattan had one.
Central Catholic will now have two days to rest and practice before taking on Wellesley, a team that the Raiders defeated 14-12 during a non-league game back in late April.
“(Our win over Wellesley) was a really, really good game. They are a great team,” said Pino. “We obviously came out on top, but it’s going to be a battle. It’s going to be athletes versus athletes. It’s going to be a grind and I’m really excited to see what’s going to happen on Thursday.”
Twitter: @JamiePote