SCARBOROUGH – Coach Marcia Wood hoped to keep her milestone moment quiet.

The postgame bouquet of balloons, however, was proof her secret was out.

Scarborough’s only lead Tuesday night turned out to be the one that mattered as the Red Storm delivered Wood her 100th coaching victory in an 8-7 girls’ lacrosse win over the Thornton Academy.

“I didn’t really want the girls to know much about it,” said Wood. “You don’t want them to focus on it because obviously that’s not the focus of the game. You don’t want them to feel stressed out and try to do anything more than they already do.”

The Red Storm (5-3) failed on their previous two attempts to get Wood her 100th. In each of the previous games Scarborough fell behind early, then rallied to challenge only to lose. Tuesday’s game followed the same script, except for the finish.

“It feels unreal,” said Ainsley Jamieson, who delivered the winner with 2:23 remaining. “We were trying to get it for her the last couple of games. We’ve been a little bit discouraged and we were just trying to pick ourselves up.”

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The Trojans (6-2) controlled the opening stages and jumped to a 3-1 lead by the midway point of the half.

Scarborough eventually shook off the effects of another slow start and had numerous chances to cut into the Trojans’ lead. In a span of seven minutes the Red Storm were awarded three free positions but failed to convert. Thornton goalkeeper Allie McCarthy stopped one and the other two missed the net.

The Red Storm closed out the opening half when Jessica Meader scored to cut the Thornton lead to 3-2.

“The first half our offense wasn’t playing as we usually play,” said Jamieson, who finished with two goals. “It was kind of slow and we were sloppy. During halftime we talked together to try and pick it up and encourage each other.”

It was the Trojans, however, who started strong in the second half, scoring three of the first four goals for a 6-3 lead.

Scarborough countered with three unanswered goals in a four-minute stretch to tie the game before the teams traded goals in a 31-second span to make it 7-7.

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“I thought we had some possessions where I think the girls were a little eager and we had some turnovers that cost us,” said Thornton Coach Craig Agreste.

Baily Adams also scored twice for the Red Storm and Maiti Kent, Avery Pietras and Kaitlin Prince also scored.

Katelyn Pierson paced the Trojans with two goals. Audrey Puleio, Hannah Wuerthner, Amanda Cook, Carly McKenna and Allyson Milliard had the others.

The game ended on a somber note when Pierson was injured with 7.3 seconds left. She was placed on a backboard and taken off the field on a stretcher to a waiting ambulance.

Agreste said, “things look OK,” but would not comment further on the nature or seriousness of the injury.

 


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