Girls Lacrosse huddles during timeout against St. Paul’s.
Girls Lacrosse (5-1) had a successful week, putting up two hard-fought wins against Milton Academy and St. Paul’s School. The win against St. Pauls on Wednesday was especially memorable after having lost narrowly last year. This time, Girls Lacrosse brought even more fight and determination to come out with a strong win.
Lily Loughlean ’27 highlights the efforts of Ashley Dimnaku ’28, Caroline Young ’26, Quiana Bell ’26 and Lola Aguirre ’26 across the field throughout their game against Milton, commenting on their impressive plays and determination that stood out.
“Ashley Dimnaku, she definitely stood out. She got three goals, and she started our momentum by scoring a lot because in the first quarter it was tied zero-zero. There wasn’t that much action, but then she started scoring and then everyone else started scoring. I would also say Caroline Young, because she also got some big goals that put us ahead. There were some [good plays] on defense with Quiana Bell and Lola Aguirre. They’re just really good at stepping in front of them and stepping up and causing turnovers,” said Loughlean
Loughlean gave insight into the preparation the team took before their game and areas in play where they hope to work on as the season commences, as they will be facing tougher teams later on.
“We watched the film from last year because we beat them in overtime last year, but it was definitely like a closer game… [Now] we’re definitely working on defense. I would say working together and communicating, because I feel that’s the key to good defense. Then on offense, just staying spread out and working off the ball to create opportunities for people with the ball,” said Loughlean.
Reflecting on their immense win, Gracynn Hartley ’27 noted the grit and strong effort put in by Dimnaku, Bell, Lauren Herlihy ’25, Autumn Christian ’27, and Charley Drouin ’25.
“We were at the end of the game, the score was six-six and we were tied. Autumn scored our winning goal in the last two minutes and then off of the draw, Ashley Dimnaku worked really hard off of the draw to get the ball so that St Paul’s wouldn’t come get it back and score throughout the game… Quiana always does a great job on defense because she gets a lot of interceptions and she’s always vocal on D. She’s such a leader,” said Hartley
Adding on to Hartley’s kudos, Ashley Dimaku ’28 applauded the strong play of Herlihy and Bell who helped the team come out with a win.
“We felt great and we felt like it was a very big achievement after our loss against Nobles, and we still think there’s a lot to improve and learn from the game. Some athletes that really stood out during the game were Lauren and Quiana. Quiana was coming up with ground balls and, Quiana was playing great defense and Lauren was taking good draws,” said Dimnaku.
Hartley spoke about the team’s energy that they carried throughout and after the game.
“We felt pretty awesome. We knew they were gonna be a tough team going up against them… They definitely were up to that caliber and you know what, we matched their energy and we were able to give it back to them,” said Hartley.
Dimnaku praised the team’s work during the game, especially working as a team and implementing trust in each other. She also added what the team was looking forward to working on throughout the season.
“In the third quarter, we did a really good job moving on offense, moving off ball, and creating lanes to drive. Another strength was trusting one another on defense [which led to] a lot of turnovers… [In practice,] we’ve been working a lot on off-ball movement… Creating a very good offense with a lot of momentum is something we strive for,” said Dimnaku.
Girls Lacrosse will travel to Choate Rosemary Hall on Saturday, April 19th.
