East Lyme gets its revenge on Woodstock
East Lyme — There had been games against Woodstock Academy in the past that were — how to put this delicately — non-competitive. And then roughly 10 days ago, East Lyme High School, the program coach Phil Schneider called the league’s “constant,” did the unthinkable.
The Vikings lost at Woodstock.
Quite the attention-getter.
“I think,” Schneider said Thursday night, “we had a better idea what to expect.”
And the Vikings played that way, pounding Woodstock 16-6 at Dick North Field, moving atop the Division I girls’ lacrosse standings in the Eastern Connecticut Conference.
The Vikings, who snapped Woodstock’s seven-game win streak, are 10-3 overall and 2-1 in the division. They can win the division outright with a win Saturday against Fitch. Woodstock is 11-3, 3-2.
“The game on Saturday is just as important,” Schneider said.
Still, there was some urgency to this game, not necessarily a feeling with which East Lyme is familiar, especially in the ECC. Some East Lyme players even saw a recent newspaper article hinting that Woodstock has risen to East Lyme’s level.
“That gave us the mindset to play hard in this game,” East Lyme junior Abby Mountain said. “We wanted to show them where we belong. It’s definitely great to have competition. The ECC is getting better and I think that makes us play better.”
Mountain’s three goals in the first half gave her team a 6-4 lead at halftime. Emma Redfield scored for Woodstock early in the second half to make it 6-5, except that the Centaurs weren’t heard from again.
East Lyme scored the game’s last eight goals, sandwiched around some timely saves from goalie Maya Rose.
Kristen Healy and Julia Bates scored three goals apiece for East Lyme, while Maeve Counter and Anna Johnson scored twice. Natale Taylor and Sophie Taylor also scored.
“The girls were really motivated,” Schneider said. “In the past, we’ve played Woodstock and the games haven’t really been all that good. But I scouted them earlier and I knew they were tough. I think it helped that we’ve been tested a lot already this year playing teams like Hand, Cheshire and Stonington.”
Comment threads are monitored for 48 hours after publication and then closed.
