The celebrating was about to begin for the Walpole High girls lacrosse team, just seconds away from holding off rival Norwood and booking its spot in the upcoming postseason.
With 14 seconds left Mustangs junior Sam Vilaboa had other ideas, tying the game and completing a four-goal comeback over the final 4:52 as Norwood salvaged an 11-11 result yesterday at Turco Field.
“That was quite a shot,” said Norwood coach Shawn Famiglietti, whose team earned a measure of revenge from a 17-11 defeat a month ago. “But we’ve got four or five players that can put the ball in the net – Katie Welter, Christine McKay, Liz Greeley and Sam -- and all our goal scorers are doing a nice job.”
The tie leaves the host Rebels still in need of at least a tie to reach the tournament with three difficult games remaining on the slate. Walpole hosts two-time defending state champion Framingham tomorrow and then hit the road with trips to Wellesley (Monday) and Franklin (Wednesday) to wrap up the regular season. The Flyers, Raiders and Panthers are a combined 40-4 (.909) this year heading into play yesterday.
“It’s been one of those seasons for us,” said Walpole coach Anna Cochrane. “I thought we’d do well at the beginning of the season, but all the injuries hit us. Unfortunately, now we are down to the last two or three games.”
Norwood is now 12-5-1 overall and 8-5-1 in the Bay State Conference and is jockeying for postseason positioning. The Mustangs need one more victory to tie the program’s single season record for wins.
Katie Welter started the Norwood comeback, grabbing a rebound behind the net, coming out in front of the net and scoring with 4:52 left, to bring the Mustangs to within 11-8.
Two minutes later, Norwood struck for a pair quickly, Christine McKay scoring on a free position and Liz Greeley winning the ensuing faceoff and weaving through the Walpole defense and going in for the goal to cut the Walpole lead to 11-10.
With 1:15 left Norwood cageminder Isabelle Jones made the save of the game, stopping a point-blank shot Sarah Buckley and Norwood finally gained possession off a turnover in the midfield with 33 seconds left.
Vilaboa took the ball up the gut, and at the last second dove to her right while unloading a shot just inside the post. Vilaboa landed in a heap on the right side of the net, with teammates streaming over to both jump on her and eventually help her up.
“I didn’t want to get in the crease and have it taken back,” said Vilaboa of the last second move. “It was good that it went in. I was watching the clock, and looked back and knew it was probably the last chance. I shot low because that’s where we were scoring on her.”
For much of the game, both teams took turns giving the other their best punch, trading goals much of the way, neither team led by more than one until a three-goal Rebel run midway through the second half gave Walpole a 9-6 lead with Emily Painten and Molly Haswell (3 goals) scoring the insurance goals. Haswell’s tally, with 11:33 left, was a beauty from the left post set up by Shelby Guisti’s pass from the opposite wing.
By this time the Rebels appeared to have everything under control, keeping the ball in front of Norwood’s net by repeatedly breaking up clears. Alicia Tosone and Kristin Hanifin were also playing strong defense when the Mustangs approached the crease of goalie Kayla Cullen
With about eight minutes left Walpole captain Caroline Stedman intercepted a clear and kept the pressure on, but the trio of Kate Harris, Vilaboa and Amanda Murray did an excellent job of shutting down Walpole’s, offense until the final six minutes.
Kathleen O’Day briefly put a stop to the Walpole momentum with a goal of her own, but Jess Guisti (game-high 5 goals) and Katherine Butts added goals of their own to push the Walpole lead to a game-high four, 11-7, with 5:34 remaining.
“With as much pressure as they were putting on Jess (Guisti), I thought she played a very composed and competitive game,” said Cochrane.
Welter (4 goals) opened the scoring in the second minute of the game, with Walpole’s Shelby Guisti tying the game in transition 33 seconds later to tie.
Four minutes later, Welter made it 2-1 and the defenses settled down the attacks for a while after that, with Haswell tying it once again with 7:11 left in the first half.
Jess Guisti scored twice 40 seconds apart for a 4-2 Walpole edge, but the Mustangs retorted with their own three-goal run, fashioned by Welter, McKay and Greeley, to take a 5-4 lead into halftime.
The Walpole transition game struck twice in the opening 1:22 to go back on top. Freshman Sarah Buckley tied the game 53 seconds into the second half and Jess Guisti put the Rebels on top, 6-5, just 29 seconds later.
