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06/04/2014 12:00 AMAfter owning all of the SCC championships among them since 2007, it was only fitting that Hand and Cheshire girls' lacrosse again met for the title, but unfortunately for the Tigers, the Rams maintained their current reign at the top.
In the championship clash, the fifth between the two programs going back seven years when the SCC consolidated into one sole postseason tournament, Cheshire prevailed with a 13-7 decision on May 29 at West Haven to capture its fourth-consecutive conference crown. Following four straight goals by the Rams, Hand answered with two swift scores before halftime to trail by one prior to Cheshire outscoring the Tigers 8-3 from the third quarter on.
"We started to get too careful, watch our star players, and rely too much off of them having the ball," said Head Coach Kevin Siedlecki. "Cheshire played great defense. They took away a lot of what we like to do. They played just a great game today."
Junior Lauren Cole earned two goals and an assist, while junior Erin Mammele and senior Brenna Hobin each scored twice and senior Brooke Barry tacked on another tally and two dishes.
"We looked good on the first couple of draws; it was 1-1, but we had possessions that we could've taken advantage of," said Siedlecki. "We were fired up and it was 2-2, and it looked like it would be a great game. We just didn't follow through on that for 50 minutes and they did."
Hand (13-5) got right on the board with Cole scoring 44 seconds into it from an assist by Barry, but Cheshire (13-5) tied it at one two minutes later off the stick of Olivia Larson.
The Tigers retook the lead exactly three minutes into the night, 2-1, with a goal by Mammele off another Barry dish. Cheshire (16 shots) then knotted it again at two apiece with 17:29 before half when Megan Dutchyshyn found her way to the cage and then took a 3-2 edge 49 ticks afterwards on a shot from Larson.
Maddy Levy increased the gap to 4-2 as 7:51 remained on a toss to junior netminder Emilee Wargo's (3 saves) right following an Emma Farrell assist. Larson scored unassisted 1:06 later to make it a three-goal difference as Hand (11 shots) asked for a timeout.
The Tigers stopped the 4-0 Rams' run with a goal by Hobin a minute later to send it to a 5-3 game. Barry then scored for Hand at 4:31 to have her squad trail by one, while Cole assisted on the point to make 5-4 the score at intermission.
As the second half opened up, Cheshire went up 6-4 with 47 ticks in on a goal coming by way of Levy before a tally from Farrell to go ahead by a trio as 23:22 remained. Cole responded, though, at 21:58 on a straight shot into the net and again made it a two-goal contest. Larson got on the board for the fourth time 52 seconds afterwards, as Cheshire went ahead, 8-5.
Michelle Federico got onto the scoring side of the stat sheet with 18:49 left of action to put her club up by four. Following another Hand timeout, the Rams notched another goal as 15:39 was left to play via a strike by Danielle Chambrelli. Kia O'Donnell kept the Cheshire momentum going to bring it to 11-5 a pair of minutes later.
Hobin did try to start a Tigers' rally with a score as less than 11 minutes of action were left to cut it to 11-6, although Farrell got another goal during the 8:16 juncture to re-take a six-point cushion and then another at 4:35, giving the Rams a 13-6 command and pushing them to the title. Mammele then scored with 2:04 left.
Hand now looks toward the Class M State Tournament, which it began as the No. 4 seed on June 3.
"We have home-field advantage to the semifinals, and I think we are in better shape this year than last year, but we have to go play a game," said Siedlecki.