Depth and youth lead St. John Paul II girls lacrosse to Sweet Sixteen

SANDWICH - For the second time in school history, the St. John Paul II girls lacrosse team won a state tournament game.

The last time they were victorious was a 18-4 win over Sacred Heart in 2019.

On Tuesday, the No. 14 Lions defeated No. 19 Lunenburg, 9-6, in the Division 4 Round of 32 to start their tourney run.

After having early leads of 2-0 and 3-1, Lunenburg evened the score at 3-3.

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That's where two heads (coaches) proved to be better than one.

Pat Van Cott and Russell Tierney are the only co-head coaches in the Cape & Islands League. They both came together with different messages for their players.

“We basically just told them, 'If you like to play tomorrow, you have to start playing now or there is no tomorrow,'” Van Cott said.

“They were rushing, and we told them to slow down the ball, settle down, move the ball around, and that’s when we started coming back up. It was all about slowing down the tempo,” Tierney said.

The Lions heard their coaches loud and clear. Over the final 12:33 of the first half, the Lions held Lunenburg scoreless while finding goals from senior Maggie Crofford and freshman Sophie Philbrick.

JPII went into halftime up 5-3.

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Van Cott said there are two things that have made the Lions (14-6) successful this season, the depth and the youth of the team. Both were on display.

“We have a couple of seniors that are the glue and the leadership of the entire team. We can score (with) five, six, or seven different people all the time. It’s happened the entire year,” Van Cott said.

Crofford, one of two seniors on the team, said communication was something they lacked in the first half.

In the second half, the Lions did a lot of communicating as they started off with a goal from sophomore Emma Tucker nine seconds into the half. The Lions went up by as much as four goals (8-4).

JPII ended the contest with six different goal scorers, four of them underclassmen.

“No one just takes over. It’s spread out all over the place which helps when they start covering one or two certain people, then we have two other people that can still score. We have a great future with the youngness on this team,” Tierney said.

The freshmen trio of Mia Curley (two goals, two assists), Sophie Philbrick (two goals), and Regan Dillon (goal) had a hand in six of the nine goals. Crofford (goal), Tucker (goal, assist) and junior Charlotte Sturgis (two goals) made up for the rest of the offense.

“I got a little nervous, but had trust in our team,” Curley said. “The girls did a good job at getting back and the offense played well with passes.”

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The Lions will look to keep roaring in the playoffs and look to continue their hot streak JPII has won four in a row and is 7-1 in the last eight.

The next matchup will be the toughest of the season. They face a Dover-Sherborn (14-6) team that is the number three seed, and won their Round of 32 matchup 19-1 over No. 30 Triton.

“When they have an offense that good, we have to keep the ball out of their hands. In this game, your offense is your best defense,” Tierney said.

There's no rest for the Lions, as they'll have no days off. JPII was scheduled to travel 81 miles to D-S for a 6 p.m. faceoff on Wedneday.

Curley said she is excited the seniors (Crofford and Delaney Burrell) get to play in one more game this season.

In what could be the last game of her high school career, Crofford believes they can pull off the upset.

“We have to make sure we are being strong, trusting ourselves, trusting each other, and making those smart passes,” Crofford said. “Just teamwork and trusting each other.”

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: JPII girls lacrosse beat Lunenburg 9-6 in state tournament