Medfield's Potent Offense Leads to 14-4 Victory over Holliston in Girls' Lax

HOLLISTON – The Medfield High School girls' lacrosse team continued its strong 2011 season Sunday, notching a 14-4 victory over Tri-Valley League rival Holliston, improving to 9-2 in the TVL and 14-2 overall.

The Warriors jumped ahead early, netting two quick goals in the first half. Holliston got one back off the stick of Ali Slyne (team-high three goals) but after that, it was all Medfield. 

“It’s pretty much what I expected,” said Holliston head coach Chris Keiley. “My leading scorer (Vicky Sostilio) was out, I have an attack playing goalie, and I had two defenders out. But no excuses, they’re a better team than we are.”

Medfield answered with four unanswered goals to take a 6-1 lead. Slyne netted her second tally of the game to bring Holliston within four, but Medfield tacked on four more goals to take a 10-2 lead into halftime.

“We came out here and knew from the beginning that they were going to come out and fight hard,” said Medfield head coach Jason Heim. “I know they’re down a little, but we’re at the end of the season and they aren’t tournament-bound. I knew that they were missing a couple key players, too, which I think helped us out.”

Medfield drew first blood in the second half as Alex McDevitt scored to put the Warriors on top, 11-2. Warriors goaltender Sarah Honan suffered an injury early in the half. Without hesitation, Keiley made the decision to call a timeout just so Heim could replace his goalie.

“It’s just a nice thing to see in a game like that – the other team looking out for the well-being of the kid,” said Heim. “There are situations you get into where some people aren’t as good.”

Ali Gold replaced Honan in net for the Warriors and was very effective down the stretch.

“She’s just an overall, all-around outstanding athlete,” Heim said of Gold. “She had some nice saves.”

With Gold’s solid play, Molly Crabtree sealed the deal with three straight goals for the Warriors, giving her team a commanding, 14-2 advantage.

Sarah Lindberg scored Holliston’s third goal on an assist from Slyne, who later netted her third and final goal, bringing the score to 14-4 in favor of Medfield.

 “My last goal – I was kind of surprised that went in,” Slyne said. “My other two, I just try to shoot wherever – they had a pretty good goalie – open spaces, top corners I try for.”

“She’s a great player,” Keiley said about Slyne. “She may not be the leading scorer on the team, but she’s the most talented player on the team, both ways.”

McDevitt and Katie Ott led the Warriors’ offensive attack, scoring three goals apiece. Kate Wasley and Emily Zlevor each scored two goals in the winning effort for Medfield.

“I think for the most part we played pretty good, but Medfield’s just a really good team” said Slyne. “We’ve been doing a lot better on defense, which is good, but we have a lot of new players up, so it’s kind of hard.”

Medfield travels to Shrewsbury Monday and closes out the regular season Tuesday under the lights when the Warriors host TVL rival Dover-Sherborn on Senior Night. Medfield Patch will be live at Tuesday's game so be sure to follow the coverage as it happens.