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05/29/2015 12:00 AMAll season long, the Hand girls’ lacrosse squad has used a seasoned core of returning players who endured consecutive SCC final losses to emerge as the front runner for a league crown in 2015. When playoff time arrived, the Tigers lived up to their regular season stature and completed a road to redemption.
Top-seeded Hand took on No. 2 Guilford in the SCC Tournament final on May 28 and came out on top by an 18-6 score—marking the Tigers’ eighth SCC Tournament championship and their first in five years. The Indians took an early one-goal lead before Hand answered with eight-straight goals and the Tigers never looked back on their way to attaining conference supremacy.
“To win SCCs is an amazing feeling. This team has been working so hard since the beginning of March and to see our hard work pay off is special. Each and every person on the team had an impact one way or another this year and I think it showed in this game,” said senior Erin Mammele, who named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. “Being Most Outstanding Player is an honor. It’s an honor to represent Hand and I doubt I would’ve been chosen had the entire team not worked so hard throughout the season. It’s an awesome feeling to be a part of both aspects of the game and, without the passion and determination of the team, none of this would’ve been possible.”
Senior Lauren Cole finished with eight goals with an assist on the night while Mammele tacked on two scores and an assist. Also contributing assists were sophomore Amanda Gentile and junior Cameron Ruberti. Hand outshot Guilford 31-10 as senior Emilee Wargo made four saves.
“I told Coach Siedlecki after my sophomore year and our SCC final loss to Cheshire that I wouldn’t leave Hand without one SCC title, so finally getting one my senior year was one of the best feelings,” said Cole, whose team had previously wrapped up its 10th SCC regular season championship. “We have a lot of young talent this year, so we’ve shown the underclassmen how hard you have to work to get to the finals and finish it. We’ve put the trophy back in our case and we’ll keep it there for awhile.”
Senior Edy Moritz gave Guilford (13-5) a quick 1-0 edge at the 23:20 point in the first half before Cole netted the equalizer for Hand (17-1). Cole’s tally opened up the offensive explosion for the Tigers as she scored again prior to Gentile making it 3-1 with 18:30 to play in the opening half. From there, Ruberti (at the 15:30 mark), Mammele, freshman Glenna-Kate Gies, Cole again (at the 9:21 juncture), and then Ruberti (with 8:29 left in the opening half) completed the 8-0 run. Moritz later found the back of the net for the second occasion to make it 9-2. Cole then collected two more scores, plus Ruberti (at 2:49) and Gentile added to the Tigers’ 12-2 halftime command as they were in control and well on their way to the crown.
“This title was validation of all the hard work they put in this year. Especially with the juniors and seniors, they’ve been working so hard and want to practice. They don’t like the easy, fun days at practice,” said Head Coach Kevin Siedlecki. “They want to work hard and it’s nice to see that pay off. It’s been a nice season in them giving their all and this is a testament to how hard they work.”
Later on in the second half, Cole and Mammele each put another one past the Guilford defense to make it 17-5 as 8:30 remained in the contest. From there, the Tigers cruised to the victory and freshman Riley Kokoruda scored Hand’s final goal with 7:05 to play.
“Tonight came down to the draw and Erin Mammele is the best at draw controls and worked so hard at it. It was also the turnovers,” added Siedlecki, whose squad also posted an 11-9 victory versus the Indians on April 23. “We just kept getting first crack on offense because of the draws. Cameron Ruberti also took some good shots and had a great game. She stepped up and finished her shots.”
While the diligent and determined Tigers set what might have seemed like lofty goals to others this season, they stayed true to the tasks by leaving it all out on the turf.
“They’ve had focus from day one, when we did a team goals meeting. We wanted to be 13-3 in the regular season, which seemed ambitious, but we were 15-1. This group has done so well with doing whatever is asked of them and giving 100 percent,” Siedlecki said. “They saw what could happen when you do just that. Even in those that didn’t play too much, it was a whole team effort.”
Hand drew the No. 2 seed for the Class M State Tournament and, although the Tigers may be a favorite going into early-round contests, they expect that every matchup will be a dogfight.
“It will come down to the determination of this group and being focused on what they need to do,” said Siedlecki. “They have to focus on the task at hand and take it one game at a time. We don’t want to look past anyone. We could see Guilford in the quarters and we know they can be a dangerous team, especially after SCCs. East Lyme and Joel Barlow have also improved, so we can’t expect any easy teams.”
From the Sidelines
The Tigers’ most-recent SCC Tournament championship had come in 2010 and was the last in a string of four-straight titles. Hand’s three others were in 1997, 1999, and 2000.
Prior to winning its 10th regular season conference title this spring, Hand had previously done so as co-champs from 1997 to 1999 and again in 2001, along with claiming outright crowns in 2000, 2007, 2008, 2010, and 2011.
In the SCC semifinals on May 26, Hand upended four-time defending league champion and No. 4-seeded Cheshire 14-6.
Lauren Cole scored six goals in the triumph over the Rams, who had defeated the Tigers in the last two conference finals.