Bishop Stang players fight for their coach as she battles stage four cancer

DARTMOUTH — For the past two years, Bishop Stang’s girls lacrosse players have watched head coach Alison Caito-Galligan battle stage four melanoma that spread to her brain.

On Monday night, the Spartans put up a little fight of their own in their Stick it to Cancer game.

With their coach directing them from the sideline, Stang’s players battled back from a 5-1 deficit to secure a 6-6 overtime tie with Fairhaven.

“It was a special night to me especially,” said Caito-Galligan, who was diagnosed with cancer in January 2021. “I have stage four cancer so I was really excited about doing this game tonight. It's special in a lot of ways. The kids really took it on.”

With her players spearheading the effort, the Spartans raised around $4,000 for the American Cancer Society.

“The kids worked really hard for it and all the signs up were for who they were playing for tonight,” Caito-Galligan said.

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Goalie Bella Batista said all of Stang’s players had Caito-Galligan on their minds on Monday night.

“It’s so special,” she said. “Our coach is a warrior. To battle a cancer like that, especially in the brain, it’s amazing.”

Sydney Plouffe said that Caito-Galligan has been an inspiration to her and others.

“She’s one of the strongest people I know,” Plouffe said. “This cancer really has had its toll on her, but it hasn’t brought down her spirits at all. She’s still the same coach Ali I’ve known since the fifth grade. Coach Caito is one of the most hard-working and dedicated people I know.”

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Coaching has helped Caito-Galligan get through a dark time and continues to do so.

“I actually helped out for field hockey as a volunteer coach (in fall 2021),” she said. “My family will say that coaching field hockey saved my life. It just gave me hope. It’s hard to live with cancer day in and day out and I’ve coached my whole life.”

Some days are better than others, but Caito-Galligan continues to coach and continues to fight for her life.

“This season I’m in a lot more pain than last year,” she said. “My joints are failing me. My hip is bad. I’m not physically where I was last year, but it’s OK.”

HOW IT HAPPENED

Bishop Stang got on the scoreboard first with a goal from Ava Jackson on a pass from Plouffe just three minutes into the game.

Fairhaven scored the next four goals to take a 4-1 lead into halftime.

The Blue Devils added a goal by Sydney Burke early in the second half to go out front 5-1, but the Spartans battled back, scoring five straight goals. A goal by Molly Kearney tied the game at 5. Stang went up 6-5 on the third goal of the game by Plouffe with 10:45 left.

Fairhaven responded with a goal from Sophia Murray to tie it up with 3:37 remaining and force overtime. Neither team scored in the six-minute OT session, ending the game in a tie.

“We have a lot of fight,” Caito-Galligan said. “I thought the girls did a great job.”

It was the second straight meeting between the teams. Stang won 11-10 on Saturday.

“They’re a better team than their record I think,” said Fairhaven head coach Scott Francis. “I don’t think we played poorly against them in either game, but they did a few more things right than we did.

“I’m not too upset. Do I think they were winnable games? Yes. But I look at who is out on our team and our firepower is not there.”

The Blue Devils were without Carlie Francis and Christina Pimentel, their second and third leading scorers.

“We were missing Carlie on the circle. We usually do a better job on the draw,” coach Francis said. “The two games against them, they got us and that mattered.”

Bishop Stang won five of the eight draws in the second half.

Batista came up with one big stop after another. She finished with 14 saves behind strong defense from Caroline Eldredge, Izzie Bromage, Ava Meehan, Addie Dumont and Maddie Azzara.

“Bella was awesome,” Caito-Galligan said. “She’s just a natural. She just naturally has it. She’s a great athlete. It all comes together for her.”

Plouffe had a hand in four out of Stang’s six goals, scoring three and assisting on another.

“Sydney’s got great speed. She’s got a great stick,” Caito-Galligan said. “We have a lot of kids that can score. I think the zone defense tonight tripped us up a little bit.”

WHAT IT MEANS: With the tie, Bishop Stang moves to 4-6-1 on the season. The Spartans visit Archbishop Williams on Wednesday. .. Fairhaven moves to 8-3-1 and will host Dighton-Rehoboth at 6 p.m. on Wednesday.

FRANCIS: “We held them to six goals. The defense played very well today, but I’m hoping to get some firepower back.”

CAITO-GALLIGAN: “We have a lot of games in a short amount of time. We’re looking forward to continuing to improve. The kids have come a long way from last year.”

STATS: For Stang, Julia Pelczarski, Kearney and Jackson (assist) each scored one goal while Teal Galligan had an assist and Sofie Doucet had one assist and three draw controls. … For Fairhaven, Sydney Burke and Murray each scored two goals while Kaylei Joseph and Malene Mattos had one apiece. Melandia Coutinho made eight saves.

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: Bishop Stang, Fairhaven girls lacrosse tie in Stick it to Cancer game