Tournament Roundup: Newburyport lacrosse sweeps tournament doubleheader
Jun. 22—The Newburyport boys and girls lacrosse teams put on a clinic at James T. Stehlin Field on Monday, sweeping their tournament doubleheader in dominant fashion to set up another twin bill at home on Wednesday.
First the Newburyport boys shut out St. Mary's for the first three quarters en route to a decisive 14-5 win in the Division 3 North Quarterfinals. The Clippers led 4-0 after the first, 6-0 at halftime and 11-0 after the third to effectively put the game away, and Newburyport enjoyed a balanced offensive showing with Jake Palma and Zach Lever each scoring three goals to lead the way.
Then in the second game, Newburyport girls lacrosse overcame a somewhat slow start to eventually dominate league rival North Reading for an easy 22-5 win in the first round of the Division 2 North tournament.
Newburyport only led 5-3 at the end of the first quarter but wound up outscoring the Hornets 17-2 the rest of the way, including a spotless 9-0 margin after the halftime break. Izzy Rosa (6 goals, 1 assist) enjoyed a career day offensively and Sam King (4 goals, 2 assists) was as prolific as ever, and Rita Cahalane, Lilly Pons and Laney Lucci all scored two goals each for the Clippers as well.
The Newburyport boys and girls will now play another tournament doubleheader on Wednesday at Newburyport High School. This time the girls (13-0) will play first, hosting Pentucket in the Division 2 North Quarterfinals at 3 p.m., and after that the boys (13-1) will host Bishop Fenwick in the Division 3 North Semifinals at a time to be determined.
Basque, Mickelson power Pentucket
In order to set up their date with Newburyport on Wednesday, Pentucket girls lacrosse first had to contend with Shawsheen in their first round game, and on Monday the team took care of business with ease to win 20-7 in their tournament opener.
Charlene Basque had a career day with six goals and one assist, and Mickelson had 10 points on the afternoon with four goals and a team-high six assists. Abby Hurlburt (3 goals, 1 assist), Sarah Graninger (2 goals) and Katie Drislane (2 goals) were all among the offensive leaders too as Pentucket opened up an early 9-2 lead in the first quarter that only grew larger from there.
Pentucket (9-4) will be at Newburyport on Wednesday at 3 p.m. Pentucket has lost both of its prior meetings with the Clippers so far this spring.
Newburyport girls tennis survives
Facing it's toughest test of the season so far, Newburyport girls tennis stayed unbeaten after the first doubles pairing of Molly Page and Li McClure delivered the decisive victory in Monday's 3-2 win over Arlington in the Division 2 North Quarterfinals.
Page and McClure won their match 6-4, 7-5, breaking a 2-2 tie after Caroline Schulson easily won her first singles match 6-0, 6-1 and the second doubles team of Ana Lynch and Elizabeth Newman won 6-2, 6-2. Newburyport is now 13-0 on the year and will next host Marblehead in the Division 2 North Semifinals on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.
End of the road
Monday marked the end of the season for several of Greater Newburyport's teams. On the diamond, Amesbury baseball lost to Stoneham 3-0, Triton was shut out by Gloucester 4-0 and Georgetown lost to Winthrop 8-4 in their respective first-round games. Newburyport softball lost to Gloucester 7-2 and Triton was shut out 14-0 at the hands of Whittier Tech pitcher Emily Graham of Amesbury, and Triton girls lacrosse fell to Ipswich 15-2.
