Suffield Girls Lacrosse Beats Somers 15-6

The Suffield Wildcat girls lacrosse team defeated the Somers Spartans 15-6 on Thursday afternoon. Strong gusts of wind disrupted both team’s passing games at times but the depleted Wildcats, with only 15 players on the roster, got the win at home.

The teams traded goals early as Suffield (5-0) scored first and Somers (2-3) followed. Elizabeth Poitras gave Somers its only lead of the game, 2-1, with a goal near the right corner of the Suffield net.

Poitras, who scored four goals and added an assist, was named the Spartans’ most valuable player by coach Elaine Kuczarski.

A run of Wildcat goals, capped by a low shot from Emily Sweeney, brought the score to 6-3 with 7:19 left in the half. The Wildcats, despite losing players including UConn lacrosse recruit Grace Presnick, the starting goalkeeper and others to a school field trip to Spain, were up at halftime, 9-4.

“We were slow to start,” said Suffield coach Gia Santaniello. “I feel like for the past couple of games we’ve been slow to start. We gain our momentum … in the middle of our first half."

As the second half began and Suffield brought the score to 10-4 a call came out from the Spartans’ bench: “Somers, bring it back to the beginning!”

Despite a final score of 15-6, Kuczarski brought out a few positives from the game.

“I think it went really well, you know, with the conditions and the weather,” she said. “I’m very pleased they continued to pass the ball even though the wind was certainly a factor.”

Kuczarski named another MVP for her side, goalkeeper Melissa Perry, who saved 14 shots on the Spartans’ net. Perry’s smart, tough play in goal was noticeable throughout the game.

Marissa Fragomeni also had a solid performance for Somers, notching two goals in the game.

Seven players scored for the Wildcats in the contest. Natalie Glynn and Paige Anderson paced the team with three goals each. Molly Clark, Katie Shute, Nur Hamideh and Sweeney all had two scores and Nicole Gagnon added another.

“Today went well, we played a lot better in our second half,” Santaniello said. “We picked up the momentum a little bit.”

Santaniello named two top players for Suffield: Gagnon and Clark.

“Up top – [they’ve] been shining a lot lately – we have Nicole Gagnon and Molly Clark, who anchor our high attack,” Santaniello said. “Both of them work very well together, especially back there. They have good communication and they have that feel for one another. So that anytime they want to set up a play they know what to do. They controlled it really well, especially on the transition.”

Somers plays next on Wednesday, April 27 when it travels to Windsor. Suffield’s next contest is against the Ellington Knights at home on Tuesday, April 26.