Girls lacrosse: Mount Anthony's comeback bid versus Essex ends one goal short

Sports Reporter

BENNINGTON — Mount Anthony's most successful season since 2018 ended sooner than the Patriots would have liked.

No. 5 Essex pulled off a minor-upset in the Division I quarterfinals on Friday, squeaking by No. 4 MAU 8-7 in a hard-fought battle.

The Patriots went down fighting. Facing a 5-2 halftime deficit, they slowly drew closer throughout the second half. Senior Elyse Altland (four goals) was instrumental in the comeback bid, trying desperately to extend her high school athletic career.

The MAU midfielder began the second half scoring with 20 minutes left in regulation, pulling MAU within two. Essex had an almost immediate answer, as Breya Montague netted her only score of the day 37 seconds later as Essex retook a three goal lead, 6-3.

Roey Rella-Neill scored the last of her two goals three minutes later, but the see-sawing continued with an Essex goal by Ava Spooner to make it 7-4.

Lexi Allard provided a timely goal 24 seconds later to pull the Patriots back within two with exactly 14 minutes left.

Essex was in a position to add to its lead with 10 minutes remaining when Lily Boutin was awarded a shot from the 8-meter mark. MAU goalkeeper Taylor Lampron made arguably the biggest of her 13 saves, however, tracking the would-be goal into the net of her stick.

As possession flipped, Altland got the same look on the other end of the field and converted the chance with 8:30 left on the clock. All of a sudden, MAU found itself trailing by just a single goal.

The Patriots got the ball back a minute later with a chance to even the score thanks to a great individual effort from senior defender Teagan Currier, who forced a turnover on an Essex attack and scooped the ground ball.

An errant MAU pass near the Essex cage with six minutes left gave the ball back to the Hornets, who proceeded to chew more than two minutes off the clock with a patient offensive approach.

Oliva Bergeron finally went to work, carrying the ball behind the MAU cage and finishing on a charge at the net with 3:42 remaining, extending Essex's lead to 8-6.

Altland nearly had the answer 20 seconds later with an underhanded shot on goal, but Essex's Sierra Harris (11 saves) made the stop.

Altland added a score with 6.4 seconds remaining to once again make it a one-score game, but Essex gained possession on the ensuing draw control to ice the victory.

MAU coach Alyssa Trudel knew the Hornets would provide her team with a challenge.

"Essex is a good team, we don't see those northern squads (during the regular season)," she said. "We knew today was going to be a good battle."

Both sides had to manage a nearly 90-minute lightning delay that began less than three minutes into play.

The Hornets struck first — and did so quickly — jumping out to a 2-0 advantage in the opening two minutes of action. Spooner was first, scoring just 37 seconds into the game. Bergeron added a goal 40 seconds later to bring the game to 2-0. Then came the lightning, and the game stoppage.

Essex wasted little time growing its lead to 4-0 once play resumed. A Rella-Neill score with 14 minutes remaining finally stopped the Essex run and put MAU on the board.

The opportunities were there for the Patriots according to their coach — they just weren't able to capitalize enough times to extend their season.

"A lot of it came down to shooting," Trudel said. "I think we played pretty evenly with them, we just weren't finishing shots."

The Patriots graduate six seniors from this year's team: Ava Elmer, Skye Colvin, McKenna Brighton, Altland, Emily Elmer and Currier.

Trudel said all six were crucial in turning around a sub-.500 team last spring into one of the top seeds in Division I this year.

"Every single week the entire team, with that senior leadership, continued to push," she said.

"We’re losing six but we’re coming back with a fierce vision to get through this quarterfinal tally that we were not able to do this season."

Michael Mawson can be reached on Twitter @Mawson_Sports or via email at [email protected].

Sports Reporter

Michael Mawson is the sports editor for Vermont News & Media. He obtained a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of New Hampshire in 2019. Michael was the sports editor of UNH's student newspaper where he covered NCAA Division I athletics.