Credit: Sofia Ciciarelli

Girls varsity lacrosse falls short to Melrose on senior night with a final score of 5-14.

The girls varsity lacrosse team held their annual senior night game, honoring the seniors’ last season with the team on Tuesday, May 21. This year, the Warriors faced the Melrose Redhawks.

To join in the celebration of the seniors, the Wayland girls youth lacrosse program came in support. The evening started with a ceremony where the Melrose seniors were acknowledged and given flowers. Then the Wayland seniors were given flowers and took photos with their families to celebrate their high school lacrosse careers.

First quarter:

The game started off with a possession by Melrose off the draw. They then ran it down to the crease where the WHS defense was penalized. As a result of the penalty, Melrose got an eight meter penalty shot where they scored, followed by two more goals. Wayland then scored a goal but it was called off due to a dangerous follow through. The result of the penalty was the Warriors finding themselves with one less player on the field. Wayland managed to prevent a Melrose goal during the penalty which gave them some energy and they were able to get shots on goal that were saved by the Melrose goalie. Afterwords, Wayland was down a player again after leading goal scorer junior Jillian Mele got her second penalty of the game and was disqualified. Melrose then got a yellow card, and sophomore Mackenzie Morris scored Wayland’s first goal of the game. After the first quarter, Wayland was losing 1-4.

Second quarter:

At the beginning of the second quarter, Melrose scored right off the draw and continued to press the Wayland defense which ended up in another Redhawk goal off an eight meter penalty shot. Despite being scored against early in the quarter, Wayland scored their second goal of the game. They continued to pressure Melrose but the Redhawk goalie stayed strong and saved multiple shots by the Wayland offense. Melrose then scored two more times during the quarter despite some saves by freshman goaltender Frankie Zilembo. Wayland continued to try and generate offense which resulted in their third goal of the night. After the first half of the game, the score was 3-8, Melrose.

Third quarter:

The first shot of the quarter went to Melrose but Zilembo saved it and was able to keep the Warriors within five goals, although not for long as Melrose scored their first of the quarter soon after. Wayland then found some offense and took two shots, one being saved by the goalie and the other missing wide. The offensive zone time transferred from Wayland to Melrose where the Redhawks scored three more goals after Zilembo saved two shots. The Wayland offense continued to struggle without Mele, and they were unable to score a goal in the third quarter even though they had multiple shots on goal. After three quarters the score was 3-12.

Fourth quarter:

Wayland came out strong despite the goal deficit. A great effort to keep the ball in bounds by captain senior Lily Mele led to a goal by her, marking the first goal of the fourth quarter. After L. Mele’s goal, Melrose retaliated and scored twice before freshman Somberby Newton was able to get the Warriors their final goal of the night. The final score of the game was 5-14 with a Melrose victory.

Gallery • 11 Photos

Credit: Sofia Ciciarelli

Several posters honoring seniors are posted along the fence of the bleachers. Along with posters and banners, seniors received flowers.