Wolverines Victory Brings End to Norwood Girls Lax Season

After a preliminary-round victory last week against Whitman-Hanson, the Mustangs were rewarded with the opportunity to face their undefeated, cross-town rivals, Westwood, in the first round of the Division 1 South Tournament.

But Norwood failed to do what any team has done this year: knock off the No. 1 overall seed, as they fell to the Wolverines 19-2 Thursday evening in Westwood.

Norwood struggled in the first half to find a rhythm as the Wolverines controlled the majority of the possession. Westwood held the Mustangs to just two shots in the half and took a 13-0 lead into the break.

Sarah Biron had four goals in the half for Westwood and Kate Rich had three and head coach Leslie Frank explained her team’s first-half dominance.

“Kate (Rich) is awesome on the draw and Sarah (Biron) picked off several on the circle and we work on that every day in practice and it pays off,” said Frank.

The second half started off in similar fashion as Westwood scored two quick goals in two minutes. The Mustangs, down 15 goals, kept their heads up however and came right back, as Carly Juckett put them on the board five minutes in. They managed seven shots in the half and allowed only five more Wolverines goals before the final horn.

“We prepare for them like we do for any other top team," said Norwood head coach Tanya Lowe. “We know what they will do. Their main thing is to attack you until you don’t feel like you can do anything else.”

Kathleen O’Day added a final goal for Norwood with just over a minute left. The Mustangs finished their regular season at 9-9 and ended 10-10 overall.

“When we went into the second half, we stepped it up a notch,” said Lowe. “You can’t get mad at yourself here. You have to leave this field with some pride and some dignity and the way you are going to do that is by holding them and making your offense look better.”

The Wolverines take on Walpole High School today at home starting at 6:30 p.m.