Here's how Moses Brown girls lacrosse tightened grip on Division I with rout of Barrington
PROVIDENCE — Let’s just go ahead and stop this Division I girls lacrosse season right now.
Moses Brown is almost certainly going to make it two straight championships, right? The Quakers have been rampant through the first half of their schedule and show no signs of slowing down.
To suggest and assume as much, of course, is nonsense. And it explains a lot about how Moses Brown has set such a consistently high standard when two of its best players swat such hypothetical foolishness aside.
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The Quakers aren’t planning on losing focus, and Thursday’s effort against a fellow traditional power illustrated as much. They were in command from start to finish while grounding Barrington, 22-7.
“We’ve been playing really well together,” Moses Brown senior Hannah West said. “But we should not discredit any of the other teams in the league, because they’ve been coming out really strong.”
How serious has Moses Brown been to this point through seven matches? Try a combined 127-28 scoring margin – each of its victories has come by at least nine goals. This outing against the Eagles marked the third time in the last five the Quakers have scored at least 20.
“I think we respect all of our opponents,” Moses Brown junior Lilly Madeira said. “We respect each other. I think that’s why we succeed so much – we really are a ‘we.’”
Moses Brown spread this one out early at breezy Campanella Field. The Quakers took a 7-1 lead late in the first quarter and stretched it to 14-5 by halftime. The clock was running by midway through the third quarter, and four different players closed with at least a hat trick.
“It’s all about building that team chemistry that we’ve been working on all year,” West said. “We’re really good friends on and off the field, and I think that’s why we work so well on the field.”
West’s goal with 2:44 left in the first half started a run into the break. Maddie Chase cashed in a shooting space chance inside the final minute and Madeira provided a highlight with 19 seconds left. Samantha Mocco hit her with a pass in front and Madeira shot blindly over her head with her back to goal, hitting the top corner to make it a nine-goal advantage.
“I was lucky that my teammate found me,” Madeira said. “It was time, place – no planning it. It just kind of happened.”
Barrington (2-4) was blanked in the second half until Stella Hillier ripped home shot from close range. The Eagles won nine of the first 10 state championships after the Interscholastic League began sponsoring the sport in 2001. Moses Brown (7-0) has captured seven of the last eight and expanded its schedule throughout the region, taking care of Massachusetts foes Lincoln-Sudbury and Franklin through the opening month.
“This is a new team,” West said. “We have a lot of younger kids who just came in, and they’re doing great for us.
“Every year we try to find our groove as a new team. If we just keep working at it – working hard at practice and supporting each other – hopefully something can happen.”
BARRINGTON (7): Alex Hope 2, Emily Horn, Anna Lombardi 2, Stella Hillier, Ashley DaCosta; assists – Hope, Lombardi 2.
MOSES BROWN (22): Vivian Stone 2, Grace MacLean 5, Lilly Madeira 6, Maddie Chase 3, Hannah West 3, Izzy Cummings, Samantha Mocco, Skylar Maxwell; assists – Cummings 3, Chase, Stone 2, Madeira, West 3, Jane Belsito, Mocco 2.
Halftime – MB, 14-5. Saves – Katie McAdams, B, 10; Ava Porter, MB, 6.
bkoch@providencejournal.com
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This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Moses Brown girls lacrosse cruises past Div. I foe Barrington, 22-7
