Girls' Lacrosse Makes a Comeback After First Half

Big Red varsity girls’ lacrosse made the long trip to Loomis Chaffee School in Windsor, Connecticut to face a strong Loomis team. In spite of missing four girls, Exeter came home with a back and forth 11-8 win. The team needed some clutch plays to seal the win, and they got it right when they needed it. Big Red has improved to 7-2 on the season and is riding a three-game winning streak.The team admitted that long bus rides can often times be a killer, mentally, but they were able to overcome it. “Three hours on the bus made us tired, but we had a long warm up so we were able to shake off the static from the ride and start the game out strong,” upper captain Marley Jenkins said.The team still started the game a little slow, allowing Loomis to jump out to a quick 2-0 lead. Big Red eventually found their groove though, scoring four straight goals to make it 4-2. Loomis’ defense, a type the girls had not yet seen this year, also made it difficult on Exeter to score. The girls had not prepared to see this defense either. “We had practiced with it a little, but we mostly just figured it out as we went,” upper Elsa Chinburg said.Loomis got possession just before halftime and snuck in another goal, cutting Exeter’s lead to 4-3. This low scoring first half resulted from Loomis’s style of defense, but it also resulted from Big Red’s great all-around defense as well. “Our defense was really strong for the whole game, we really came together,” Chinburg said. At halftime, Coach Breen went over strategy on how to break down Loomis’ defense and also got the team fired up.

Loomis came out of the half and scored a few more to lead. The rest of the second half was a battle which lead to an 8-8 tie going into the last five minutes. The team scored two goals quickly and then stalled the rest of the way to secure the win. “We had our best stall of the season for the last few minutes. The stick skills up on attack were really strong and our defense was solid,” lower Holly MacAlpine said. A few key interceptions by lower Josie Russ helped seal the win.Russ really stood out the whole game with her stellar defense. Lower Jacie Lemos stood out offensively, scoring 5 of Exeter’s 11 goals. Chinburg and senior captain Leo Liautaud were among the standouts as well.Big Red looks to continue their winning streak this Saturday against Brooks School at home at 3 p.m. Exeter definitely stuck to their motto “Full 50” against Loomis, play- ing hard the whole game to come away with a great win. The team looks to maintain this momentum for the rest of the season.