Martha’s Vineyard girls lacrosse showcases identity of resilience in win over Monomoy

The early part of a season can teach a team a lot about its identity, especially when a game goes down to the wire.

Martha’s Vineyard girls lacrosse (1-1) got a taste of its identity in a back-and-forth 10-9 victory over the Monomoy Sharks (0-1), in which Monomoy cut the lead to one point six times, but could never get the equalizer.

“We don’t just come from an Island where we’re secluded,” first-year head coach Lauren Pineau said. “We come off here and we come to see what other teams are doing, to see how we can improve at the next competition.”

Last year’s Vineyard squad started the year 8-6 before falling in its final five games. That losing streak stretched to six following a season-opening loss to Nantucket on March 30.

However, as a silver lining, this year’s girls lacrosse team is better equipped to handle the adversity.

“We’ve had a lot of growth over the years – it’s a lot of the same girls,” senior attacking midfielder Ali Dyke said. “We know when to pull through when we need to.”

Dyke scored thrice in the Vineyard’s win Tuesday, including two times after Monomoy cut the lead to one, showcasing some resiliency of her own.

“You just have to find the opportunities for yourself and know that, when you can take it for yourself, it’s also for the team,” she said of her performance. “When you can’t take it for yourself, give the opportunity to someone else who can.”

Part of that mindset comes from coaching and getting players to buy into the message. Pineau’s point of emphasis: respect for one another.

“For me, it’s building that culture [of respect for] the team,” she said. “In the end, once you have that team communication and bond, then I think teams flow fluidly.”

Part of realizing that culture, while the process is important, is seeing the trust and respect yield results on the playing surface.

“It all comes down to the team and what we can do,” Dyke said. “Pulling out a win just really gives us a lot of hope for the rest of the season.”

Following the victory, however, Pineau acknowledges that the road doesn’t stop here.

“Just because we won today, tomorrow at practice we’re going to work just as hard as if we lost,” she said. “A win is today, tomorrow is a new day and Thursday, when we have another game (home against Saint John Paul II), it’s a brand-new day.”

Pineau commended her team’s efforts in practice, saying there’s a level of want-to about this group.

“We’re not perfect but we’re striving to improve ourselves,” she said. “These girls want to work hard -- they want to be here.”

In addition to hard work, there’s a feeling of enjoyment exuding off each other on the practice field. Dyke said that, while they work hard, they also want to have a good time.

“Through the adversity of practice and putting that work in, we try to laugh and make sure everybody’s enjoying it,” she said.

On the flip side, the Monomoy Sharks must follow a similar mindset of turning the page coming off a hard-fought defeat.

“We have a lot of heart and we’re always giving our best effort,” Monomoy head coach Brendan Pursel said of his team, “We fought until the very end, so it shows we have a lot of promise. We just have a few things that we have to be cleaning up and then we’ll have a bright future this year.”

Pursel acknowledged the effort in several comeback efforts from his Sharks squad.

“We played a team that had a lot of tenacity,” he said. “We’d cut it to one and then they always had an answer for us right back...they were a very competitive team and I’m looking forward to playing them again.”

Jordan Leandre is a freelancer for the Cape Cod Times Sports Department and can be reached at jordanleandre55@gmail.com.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Martha's Vineyard girls lax beats Monomoy for 1st win of the season