Wednesday marked a new season for Barrington girls lacrosse; it looked a lot like the old one as the Eagles' playoff journey began

BARRINGTON — The regular season is long gone. The 11-1 Division I record doesn’t matter. The new season started Wednesday for the Barrington girls lacrosse team and it’s clear what the Eagles are chasing.

Don’t talk about titles yet. Barrington — loser of the last three state championship games — isn’t thinking about playing for one. Not yet. Before Wednesday’s Division I quarterfinal, all the Eagles cared about was South Kingstown. Now, after jumping out to an early lead against SK, then getting a stellar defensive performance in the second half to complete the 18-8 win over the Rebels, they’re ready to talk about what’s next in this brand new season.

“It’s just starting off,” Barrington's Ava Kovolyan said. “We all kind of like to think of two seasons separate. We ended last season on our Senior Night. That was the old season and that doesn’t matter any more, quite honestly.

“We’re starting a new season and we wanted to start it with a good note and I think we did that.”

“It’s anyone’s games, especially when it comes to playoffs. Seeding doesn’t matter,” Barrington goalie Audrey Keefe said. “You’re playing this team and they have a bunch of great players. You have to take it team by team and understand that it’s anyone’s game every single time.”

On paper, Wednesday’s game against South Kingstown seemed like it should have been a walk in the park for Barrington. When the teams met on May 12, the Eagles dominated in a 21-5 win. The Rebels were young, inexperienced and down to one senior heading into the quarterfinal matchup.

Thinking any of that matters is when upsets happen. While Barrington is the favorite to reach the state final after going 11-1 this spring, the Eagles didn’t want to treat South Kingstown like it didn’t have a chance. In April, the Rebels nearly hung an L on the seemingly invincible Moses Brown team, so clearly SK wasn’t your typical No. 7 seed.

“This whole playoffs, whoever has a good day can come out on top," Kovolyan said. "I think it’s really important to take every game one by one, no matter who it is. Treat every draw 0-0 no matter what the score is because they could just come back at any time.”

Barrington flew out of the gate. The Eagles scored three goals in the first 2:18 of the game and were up 5-0 in a hurry.

South Kingstown fought back. The Rebels got as close as three in the first half but Barrington scored twice before halftime to take a 10-5 lead at the break. The Eagles jumped out early in the second half, built a 10-goal lead and the final 15 minutes were played bouncing between running clock and stoppages when South Kingstown got the deficit back to nine.

“We just kind of relaxed, took a deep breath and realized we were fine,” Kovolyan said of the second-half surge. “We just needed to relax and slow things down, especially on attack. Just slow it down, get the pretty goal — there was no need to rush.”

“It just gets in your mind that you’re behind by so many goals and it’s hard to come back,” South Kingstown’s Sara Hancock said. “The first feeling is to kind of give up, but you have to finish the rest of the game strong.”

South did fight hard in the second half, but the Eagles' defense managed to make the Rebels work for every shot. Keefe was strong in net, not for the number of saves she made but the senior keeper always seemed to make a save to steal momentum from the Rebels and to give it right back to her team.

“I feel like I take it play by play and, in the beginning, I had a downfall because I just took too much and I had to reset and get some shots during halftime,” Keefe said. “I really saw each ball [in the second half]. Every single time it comes down the field, I’m just watching where it goes, focusing and getting my defense to be strong.”

Kovolyan led Barrington with five goals. Reilly Curran scored four and Violet Gagliano, Emma Johnson and Charlotte McGarry had two apiece. Alexandra Hope, Emily Horn and Julia Stanchina had the other three goals.

The loss ended South Kingstown’s season but the Rebels were smiling on the sideline after the game. South Kingstown graduated a large senior class last year, lost star Avery Martin to injury and senior defender Mackenzie Sweeney was unable to play Wednesday, leaving Hancock as the lone upperclassman on a roster loaded with young talent to go up against one of the state’s best teams.

Junior Zoe Lockwood led the Rebels with four goals, sophomore Finley Carr scored three and freshman Hadley Cottrell had the other tally.

“This game was a pretty good game,” Hancock said, “especially since the last time we played them, we lost, 21-4, or something like that.”

“They’re a really good team. [Lockwood] killed it — I had to give her props for that,” Keefe said. “She was coming down ready to play. Them just powering through that whole game showed they’re a great team.”

It was Hancock’s final game of her high school career, but she found the right words to describe what her four years, including this season, meant to her.

“I’m just going to remember how fun it was to play and experience these games and all of this with the team,” Hancock said. “We might not have won, we might not be going to the championship or even further in the playoffs, but this game was a fun game to play in and I really enjoyed it.”

Barrington did as well, for obvious reasons. The Eagles move on to the semifinals, where they’ll play the winner of Thursday’s semifinal between No. 6 Wheeler and No. 3 Lincoln School. Barrington beat Lincoln School, 15-14, on April 17 and downed Wheeler, 20-5, on May 20.

But that was "last" season. This is a new one — and the Eagles are ready.

“It’s going to be tough no matter who we play," Kovolyan said. "We’re not looking past the semifinals at all. We’re just looking one game at a time.”

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Barrington beats South Kingstown in RIIL D-I Girls lacrosse quarterfinals