Girls' Lax Overcomes Hostile Brooks Team
Exeter girls’ lacrosse dominated on Saturday against Brooks School, winning 15-10 despite an aggressive Brooks team. The team poured a lot of emotion into the win and tensions were high throughout the game. Exeter fought Brooks back, though, and improved to 9-2 while riding a five-game winning streak.
The key to securing the win for the team lay in keeping their cool as the Brooks girls began to play rough. Brooks seemed frustrated with themselves for most of the game as Exeter took an early lead and went into the half 8-2. Brooks gained some momentum during the second half as they went on a 6-2 scoring run, making it to 10-8 with Exeter still in the lead. Big Red, however, swiftly came back to score five goals and blow the game open. “Towards the end, when they knew they were going to lose, was when it got really bad,” prep Bella Edo said.
Emotions escalated to their highest point when, late in the first half, lower Bronwyn Shields and a Brooks player were both going for a loose ball. Shields knocked the Brooks player away, who got extremely upset. “After the hit, Brooks started to target Bronwyn, and they really had it out for her,” upper Ruby Epler said.
When Brooks’ actions on the field started to get out of hand, senior captain Leo Liautaud gathered the team to tell them to act better than Brooks. “I told them to, rather than retaliate, to rise above it and continuing playing,” Liautaud said. The team listened to Liautaud’s words and played with class throughout the game. “Thanks to this leadership, we continued to play our game and showed Brooks that their negativity couldn't affect us,” Epler said.
The game really took a toll on the team physically and emotionally. However, the athletes shared a special moment after having just secured the win. “The best part was at the end of the game when we all ran on to the field to get Kat [Racine]. We were just so happy because we knew we won that game fair and we could confidently walk away knowing we were good sports and when the other team starts to get dirty we won't back down or let up,” Edo said. “It’s hard to explain but it felt great to be a part of the team then.”
Through all of the chaos, goalie Kat Racine stood out during the game with stellar defense from upper Clara Hobbie and lower Josie Russ. Shields, lower Jacie Lemos, and upper captain Marley Jenkins won a lot of important draws and Liautaud led the way on offense with some great passing. Prep Hannah Gustafson had a beautiful goal off a great feed from Jenkins.
The team travels this Saturday to take on Tabor Academy. After being emotionally and physically toughened after Saturday’s game, the girls are ready to handle anything from here on out.