Girls’ lacrosse knocks out South Portland in preliminary playoff win

By Matt Pascarella

Third-place Windham hosted 14th place South Portland in the varsity girls’ lacrosse Class A preliminary playoff round at Windham High School on Tuesday, June 9. Windham commanded the field for most of the game and will advance to the quarterfinal following a massive 22-2 win over South Portland.

Windham senior Mady Donnelly brings the ball up the
field during a girls' lacrosse preliminary playoff game
against South Portland at Windham High School on
Tuesday, June 9. PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELLA  

The Eagles netted 12 goals in the first quarter alone and Windham defense held back the Red Riots and prevented them from scoring in the second and third quarters.

“We need everybody to contribute offensively, and we had a ton of different people scoring tonight and assists and moving the ball,” said Windham varsity girls’ lacrosse coach Matt Perkins. “Defensively, we had a lot of good checks ... we need everyone to step up and do their role. (Our roles as coaches for the remainder of playoffs) is to highlight our weaknesses and continue to work on them. We want to show them and make sure (our team) understands where we can take advantage of other teams. We went up and down the field passing pretty well. Things we got to work on are being more efficient on (who our opponent is), ‘are they a driving team,’ ‘are they a cutting team’ – so just recognition.”

Windham showed right from the first draw that they came to win. Both offense and defense were incredibly strong throughout the entire game. Defense kept the ball away from the Eagle’s goal and offense brought in one player after another who found the back of the net.

After the first quarter Windham led by 11 goals and at the half the Eagles led by 16 goals, as Windham defense only allowed South Portland a single goal in both the first and fourth quarters.

“There’s no guaranteed next game,” said Windham senior Mady Donnelly, who scored three goals in the first half. “We all wanted to come out together as a strong front and come out hard. Good communication inside and outside of practice (led to the win). Our motto is moving onto the next play, and I think that’s what we did every time; if we messed up, we all were there together. Our approach is to give it our all (for the remaining games). Together as a team we really have to push each other ... if we all support each other and motivate; if we keep doing what we’re doing, I think we got it.”

Despite Windham’s strong lead in the second half, they stayed aggressive. Windham senior Olivia McPherson scored twice at the top of the third quarter, junior Morgan McLain scored. Sophomore Anna Bowie scored in the fourth quarter.

“We went into it like any other game, we weren’t going to play down or expect anything, it’s playoffs, so any team can win,” said Windham sophomore Brooklyn Roy. “We worked hard at practice and prepared. We played hard and gave it our all, no regrets. Everyone’s work ethic led to the win; we had different people in, and we took our starters out after the half. We’re taking it day by day and game-by-game (for the remainder of the playoffs). We’re trying to be focused and working hard, really implementing plays that will help benefit us the most. Playing all the way through and trying to hype everyone up at all times (is always something to work toward improving)”.

Both Donnelly and Roy agree that a second state title is the ultimate goal. <