Page 225 - WHS FH 2014 Memory Book - Megan Cunningham
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Lauralton Hall (16-4-1) has now lost its last three meetings with Wilton, including a 1-0 setback during the
regular season and a devastating 1-0 overtime loss in the Class M championship game last year.
Wilton will be making its eighth appearance in the final and looking for its
sixth state title. Lauralton has made steady progress over the past few years,
reaching the final in 2011 in Class S and again last year in its first season in
Class M. “They’re a tough team. I’m going to get them one of these years.
They better watch out,” Cavanagh said jokingly.
Wilton coach Deirdre Hynes knew getting past Lauralton was going to be
tough. Since last season, the Warriors lost eight players to graduation while
Lauralton Hall brought back all but two. The revenge factor also worried
Hynes.
“I knew this was going to be a different team than the one we saw in
September,” Hynes said. “They only lost their center-mid and their goalie
from last year. And they’re hungry. They’re hungry to get that win that they were short of last year.”
Lauralton dominated much of the first half from an offensive standpoint, producing four penalty corners over
the first 20 minutes, getting off a couple of strong shots by Alexa Dawid and Lindsey Spitz. But Wilton goalie
Amanda Hendry (seven saves) kicked them all away to keep the game scoreless.
Lauralton appeared to score with 18:30 left in the first half after a battle in front, but the officials waved the play
dead before the ball went in. “I knew she called it back, but I’m not quite sure what happened down there,” said
Cavanagh. “It would have been nice to go up 1-0 at halftime. That would have been a big momentum shift.”
Lauralton had another solid chance early in the
second half with Hendry stuffing Kiley Forrest on a
point-blank chance off a corner by senior Jaclyn
Brewster with 14 minutes left.
Hynes then called timeout with 10:36 left with
Wilton mustering only three shots on goal up to
that point.
“At halftime Lauralton had more shots, but I
thought we possessed the ball a decent amount
more than them. We just weren’t getting shots,”
Hynes said. “I told them, we can’t score if we don’t
shoot. So we have to start shooting, shooting,
shooting.”