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Championship: Nipmuc RHS 11, Needham HS 4

3rd: Connecticut College-B

 

Very windy, with temps in low 40s. Rain started midway through round 1 and was mixed with snow at times. Tourney was shortened due to conditions and field closures, so pool play winners went directly to finals, bypassing semis.

 

In Pool A, Needham High School defeated Conn Coll-B in the last round of pool play to earn the right to play finals. In Pool B, Nipmuc RHS had already secured the pool victory by rolling through its first two games, and had only a crossover game vs. WPI-B that could not affect standings to lead in to the championship game.

 

As teams moved to the finals field (other fields had been closed), winds and rain continued. Teams agreed to play to 11, but weather conditions and the smaller finals field allowed zone defense to extend points. Nipmuc RHS may have started out fresher and more focused due to its easier lead-in, and took control early, pulling out to a 5-2 lead and looking unbeatable. At that point, however, Needham seemed to find its game again and began outplaying Nipmuc, moving the disc well in both directions and stuffing Nipmuc's offense. Needham scored to pull within two and continued to outplay its opponent on both sides of the disc. Needham defended another Nimpuc scoring shot and was calmly working against the Nipmuc zone again. With possession just past its own goal line, however, Needham's run to get back in the half was emphatically shut down when a Nipmuc defender came out of nowhere with a chest-high layout catch-block, landing in Needham's end zone for a Callahan goal. 6-3, halftime, and momentum back to Nipmuc. Second half points were almost all close and competitive, with both teams having chances to score, but Nipmuc was just consistently better at finding the end zone and it only allowed one more Needham point en route to the Lemony Spring championship.

 

women's:  Original Lemony Spring RI Edition women's div was cancelled.  Late scheduling of most of the New England sectionals forced Lemony to move to Easter weekend resultig in too many conflicts for our teams.  Thanks UPA. 

 

We did host a 5-team women's round-robin, arranged the day before when UMassacre was cancelled.  No results are available at this time.

 

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