Lady Wildcat lacrosse is loaded again for county supremacy

LEE – The Lady Wildcats returned to the lacrosse field this past week as reigning Berkshire County champs, yet with question marks involving the defense and mid-field.

Despite losing five starters, Lee can rejoice on the offensive end, as leading scorer Megan Gaul returns, as well as midfielders Moriah McKenna and Alyssa Kelly and attacker Lydia Graham.

“Definitely seeing chemistry developing with Lydia Graham and Alyssa Kelly and even Liz Kastrinakis – and [Gaul and McKenna] must have some telecommunication because each knows where the other will be and that makes my job easier,” said Lee head coach David Galisa.

Together, the offense have lead Lee to an undefeated (3-0) record after their first week, including a 20-11 win over Mt. Greylock on Monday and a 11-5 win over rival Pittsfield on Tuesday.

Goals this season have come in bunches for the ‘Cats, while goalie Hannah Hunter has had her hands full between the pipes coming up with multiple-digit saves in each game for the win.

“With Hoosac, we really struggled on defense even though the score didn’t show it – [against Mt. Greylock] our defense really tightened up and (Hunter) played brilliantly,” Galisa said.

Defensively, Coach Galisa has an inexperienced backline, currently manned by Rachael Carlino and Jessica Hanley with former attacker Casey Collins in the middle.

“I was pleased with the three – I think they really picked up their game,” Galisa said.

Against the Mounties, Gaul opened the game with two quick goals in the game’s first 40 seconds as Lee jumped out to an early 7-1 lead.

Gaul was soon triple-teamed as the Mounties clogged the box and began to utilize their transition game to counter attack the Wildcats’ offense.

The Mounties closed the gap to as close as 13-11 with 8:35 left before Galisa called timeout to regroup his troops.

“We noticed their defense was reacting to the ball and bunching so we started talking about changing the field a bit – we started going behind the net and switching fields – if they are bunching we are going to spread them out and try to go outside,” Galisa said. “That was a key for us in the second half.”

Lee rolled over the Mounties in the final seven minutes, scoring the game’s final seven goals for the win.

Gaul led the ‘Cats with six goals and six assists, while McKenna had four goals and five dimes and Graham added six goals and an assist.

While the Mounties made it close, the Lee defense is going to have to shore up if they are going to have a chance to advance past the second round in this year’s Western Mass. tourney.

As the Mounties made it a two-goal game, Gaul was seen playing deep in the defensive zone trying to give the inexperienced backline some relief.

“It’s kind of hard because our defense is brand new and [they] haven’t learned to run up and pass it to the mid-field, so I had to go back there,” Gaul said. “We have a lot of girls who are brand new and haven’t played, so telling them what to do – they listen pretty well and they do it.”

Galisa has high hopes defensively for his team, especially for Collins, who the coach sees as the “middle-linebacker” or anchor on defense.

“[Collins] is going to be huge for us I think,” Galisa said. “Like any of the middle positions, she has to control the field and see the field and she is starting to do a great job of it.”

Posted by Tim Davis on April 11, 2013. Filed under High School Sports,Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry