SENIOR CAPTAIN Christina Covelle brings the ball into the offensive zone against Lexington at Landrigan Field. (Dan Pawlowski Photo)
By DAN PAWLOWSKI
WAKEFIELD — Much has changed in one year.
It’s evident with all 2022 spring sports teams at Wakefield High. Gone is the truncated, masked-up, half-season of 2021. Yes, it was great for the student-athletes to compete, no matter the twilight zone feeling – but for many teams, it felt more like a way to work on their game for 2022.
Nowhere was that more true than at Landrigan Field for the Warrior girls’ lacrosse team, a team who had no seniors on the roster last year. Not much has changed in one year on the roster. This season, Wakefield has nine seniors and a new opportunity to make this full season one to remember.
“Last year was a learning experience because of Covid,” said head coach Cara Luca. “They’ve been playing a lot in the offseason together. They’re a great group of kids.
“They’re really excited about this season, to have a full 18-game schedule, they’re ready to go.”
Leading the way for the Warriors are four senior captains: Bella Dimare, Christina Covelle, Angelina Nardone and Kaylee O’Rourke.
“They’re great leaders,” said Luca of the captain. “They’re a good group of girls to have; very positive, very motivated.”
Additional seniors are Mary Rose Anjim, Caroline Benedetto, Ally Forti, Molly Grady and Elise Theriault.
Dimare, a goalie who is committed to play lacrosse at Framingham State, played a great game in Wakefield’s 14-4 season-opening loss to a powerful Lexington team at Landrigan Field. The Minutemen put 32 shots on net. Dimare made 18 saves.
“Bella is amazing, she’s someone I’m going to really miss next year,” said Luca. “She’s the voice of the defense.”
Nardone, who stepped up to play goalie last year when Dimare was injured, will lead the defensive group along with returning players Anjim and junior Isabella Birchem.
O’Rourke and juniors Grace Seabury, Katherine Taylor and Molly Berinato, along with sophomores Juliana Spaulding and Molly Forrest are a part of Wakefield’s strong midfield group.
Covelle, Theriault, Benedetto, Forti and junior Vivian Mottl are part of a strong attack group.
Taylor led the scoring for Wakefield against Lexington with two goals. Seabury and Spaulding both added tallies as well.
Spaulding got the first goal after multiple impressive efforts on clears from the Warrior defensive zone. She earned a penalty and went low on the shot, rolling it past the Lexington goalie with 8:55 left in the first half to make it 5-1 and the Warriors continued to get some quality saves from Dimare along with strong defensive play from Nardone, Birchem, Spaulding and Kyleigh Formicola.
Lexington led 6-1 at the break and ramped up the pressure in the second half, peppering Dimare with 19 shots, forcing 11 saves in the frame.
Wakefield’s second goal was a great glimpse of their offensive potential. Seabury made a quality clear and burned past multiple defenders before firing it across to Taylor who spun around one final defender and finished on the backhand.
After Lexington extended their lead to 11-2, Taylor and Seabury scored back-to-back, Taylor first on a penalty shot that included a dodge on a Minuteman who was quick off the line and later Seabury who made an incredible drop step dodge to split two defenders before zipping a shot top shelf.
In the end, the Warriors couldn’t disrupt a strong possession game by Lexington, but all facets of the team proved they could step up and play against the league’s best.
Luca and her coaching staff worked mostly on fundamentals and stick skills with this group during last year’s shortened season, knowing that the time they put in would lead to experience for this year.
“Our scrimmage against Danvers showed their true colors,” said Luca of her squad. “I was so impressed with them, especially the way they transitioned. “It was a good game, good competition. This game (Lexington) was like that too. I’m not coming away from this thinking ‘we really need to work on fundamentals.’”
As the Warriors work through a tough early-season schedule, which included an identical 14-4 loss to Arlington on Friday, they will continue to find opportunities to improve against an always challenging Middlesex League, especially Liberty large teams who they haven’t seen since 2019.
That will be the case again today as the Warriors host Woburn (2-1), 4:15 p.m. at Landrigan Field.
Altogether, these familiar Warriors want to accomplish multiple goals, first in the regular season and then the postseason.
“They want to win the Freedom Division and they want to make it to the tournament,” said Luca.