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05/03/2021 12:00 AMThe Morgan girls’ lacrosse team has posted solid results thus far this season thanks to a cadre of talented upper-class athletes and a smattering a promising younger players. Head Coach William Lindsay’s squad finished last week’s action with a 5-2 record after losing games against a pair of the Shoreline Conference’s top teams.
Morgan took an 11-6 defeat against North Branford on April 27 and a 14-5 loss versus Old Saybrook on April 29. Morgan’s final game of the week came against St. Paul Catholic on May 1, and the Huskies grabbed a 10-9 win in overtime to get back to their winning ways.
Regardless of Morgan’s record, Coach Lindsay just feels happy for his athletes to be able to compete this year after the Huskies missed out on the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s been good. I think the girls are excited to have the opportunity again,” said Lindsay. “They recognize the situation and how fragile it is. They definitely are happy to be out there.”
Coach Lindsay was glad to see the Huskies rebound with a 10-9 overtime win against St. Paul on May 1, after taking a pair of defeats earlier in the week. Morgan and St. Paul were tied 5-5 after the first half, and then 9-9 at the end of regulation necessitating an overtime period. The Huskies didn’t waste much time as freshman Maeve Madura put the winning goal into the net just 31 second into the frame.
“It was a good test of our mental toughness because we had to go on the road against a team we didn’t know anything about and bounce back after two tough losses,” said Lindsay. “It was a back-and-forth game and the first time we have played overtime in a couple of years, but the girls were resilient and Maeve Madura took it upon herself to win that game in OT. She showed a lot of confidence for a freshman.”
Coach Lindsay has been impressed at Madura’s early success on the field. While the Huskies have been anchored by their senior talent, the unexpected success of a freshman attacker like Madura has given Morgan a huge boost to go along with players like Narracci and senior attacker Carley Schmidt.
“Maeve Madura’s had a really good start. She’s scoring goals and does a nice job working in front of the goal. She’s had a number of good goals, and she has a good feel around the goal and looking at the field around there. She has that inside game, that plays well off of Carley. They build off of one another,”said Coach Lindsay. “Carley’s in the midfield. She brings a lot of athleticism, and she is really the spearhead of our attack and our leading scorer. She also plays center and takes the draws. She’s had a great start to the year on those draw controls to get possession and maintain possession.”
Senior captain attacker Lindsay Narracci scored five goals in the win over St. Paul, while Madura added four goals. Sophomore Brooke Carlisle had a goal and senior captain defender Emma Lindsay notched an assist. Sophomore goalie Marin Stopkoski made 14 saves in net for the Huskies.
Stopkoski has played a big role in Morgan’s success so far this year.
“Marin has been very strong to start the season. She’s a sophomore who didn’t get to play last year. She’s been playing goalie for a long time, so she knows the position well,” Lindsay said. “She does a great job with her angles, and she knows the position well. She really kept us in the first four games really well. She helped us get those wins.”
As with many successful team, the Huskies have strong leadership behind a trio of senior captains in Narracci, Emma Lindsay, and defender Abby Eydman.
“Lindsay is a four-year starter. She’s always been a leader by example. She’s kind of the captain of the attacking unit. She’s always been strong around the goal. I think the girls look to her from a scoring perspective,” Coach Lindsay said. “Abby has a really positive attitude that’s kind of infectious. She brings a lot of energy to the team. She’s always cheering on and supporting her teammates. Emma is kind of the leader on the defense. She keeps us organized and communicates really well. She’s the one that leads that and calls it out on the defensive rotations. I think that helps us when clearing the ball.”
Against North Branford, the Huskies saw two goals each from Schmidt and Carlisle, while Madura tallied a goal and an assist. Junior Alexis Shields had a goal, and Clara Franzoni and Narracci had an assist apiece. Stopkoski made 11 saves.
Carlisle has proven to be another pleasant surprise for the Huskies. Even though she is a sophomore, the lost 2020 season makes this year her first year, and she’s been doing solid work in the midfield.
“She’s a sophomore, in some ways she’s like a freshman because of missing the year,” Lindsay said. “She has really good stick work, and she can rotate to center with Carley. She’s winning draws, too. She is a really skilled player.”
Shields is one of a couple of juniors who got some experience on the field in 2019 as a freshman. Fellow junior Cailan Steahle has been pairing up with Shields on the attack and serving up some quality play.
“Cailan’s one of the contributors at attack and Alexis Shields. Those are our two junior starters. They were varsity players the last year they played,” said Lindsay. “They rotated in and saw minutes. It’s nice for them to get the whole year to play.”
In the loss versus Old Saybrook, the Huskies received three goals from Narracci, a goal from Steahle, and a goal from Natalie Comiskey. Stopkoski made eight stops in net.
Coach Lindsay thought that North Branford and Old Saybrook gave the Huskies some solid takeaways and things that the squad can work on to become more successful.
“Those are the top two teams in the conference, and the teams we’re trying to measure ourselves against. North Branford has some really skilled players. That game was a bit closer than it looks. They did a good job of winning possession and keeping it. We couldn’t keep the ball to trade enough chances,” said Lindsay. “Old Saybrook has some individual players who are really strong. Lily Cody was great for them. She was a handful to contain.”
Coach Lindsay believes that the Huskies are in a good position to achieve their goals. Of course, Morgan wants to make some noise in the Shoreline Conference Tournament, but Lindsay just wants to see steady improvement.
“The goals coming into the season are to make the Shoreline Tournament and the state tournament. We did both of those the last time we played, so we’re hoping to build on that momentum. I think those are still achievable goals. We have some strong teams in the conference. Last time we were the No. 4 seed, and we’re trying to see if we could get to a No. 3 seed, and get that nice progress,” said Lindsay. “I would say we’re a kind of young team since we’ve missed a whole year. It’s still a work in progress. We’re kind of young and developing. There are a lot of bright spots for sure, we need some more consistency on our execution to bring everything together.”