By Michael Letendre

BRISTOL – Any time a program can stop the Bristol Eastern girls lacrosse program from scoring a goal over second half play, it’s a big deal.

But if the Lancers can match that outstanding effort on the defensive end, like they did against crosstown rival Bristol Central on Wednesday night, then the Kingstreeters are probably going to hit the pay window.

And Eastern did just that over its 5-3 triumph against Central, earning the season sweep in the process.

The Lancers moved to 11-5 on the season while the Rams fell to 10-6.

The match was truly a battle between the two outstanding keepers, Avery Ellis from Bristol Eastern and Amy Pelletier at Central.

Both the goalies left it all on the turf and it was Ellis, under fire several times on Wednesday, stopping shot after shot.

“At halftime, I said, ‘where’s Avery?’ I only see a brick wall over here because she was just phenomenal,” said Eastern coach Kayla Policarpio. “She was on fire. Last night we had a game against Wethersfield, our senior night, and she was stopping so many shots and so many critical shots at the end of the game.”

“She really came on in the clutch for us over the last two days.” 

Central dictated the pace throughout match play and that slowdown approach gave Eastern fits offensively, especially over the second 25 minutes.

But even as the Lancers didn’t score, the Rams were limited to just one tally over that same stretch.

And Central had chance after chance but couldn’t add to its tally late.

“Their goalie played phenomenal. She played great back there,” said Central coach Kyle Phelan of Ellis. “We had chances, we dropped some chances but the ones we got through, she answered the bell. She made some big time saves.”

Eastern’s defense allowed just three goals over the fifty-minute contest as Ellis had Jayna Hatcher, Carolyn Wilson, Megan Krok among others helping her limit the offensive advancement of the Rams.

The play went back and forth early as Central controlled big moments in the match while Eastern slowed it down late, playing keep away as the Kingstreeters were holding on to a two-goal edge.

Central scored the first goal of the game but Eastern notched five straight over a period of twenty minutes to snare a 5-1 cushion with 2:35 to play in the first half.

Central’s Kaylynn LaPointe (hat trick) and Rachel Wygant were aggressive throughout the match while Kenzie Aparo (two goals) was everywhere on the field.

Taigan Parent played well for Eastern as did Jayna Hatcher.

LaPointe scored the first goal of the game on a foul, attacking the goal off the play and bouncing the ball by Ellis as Central led 1-0 just over ninety seconds in.

From that point on, the Lancers were on the attack.

Aparo flashed in an easy shot to knot the score at 1-1 with 21:27 left in the first half and then off a scrum, Vanessa Drury (two goals) added a goal as Eastern grabbed a 2-1 lead and never trailed again.

Emma Stavens dropped in a score with 17:00 left, attacking from the right-hand corner of the goal box to stake the visitors to a 3-1 push.

And then with 10:42 to play in the first half, the game-winning goal came to pass.

This time around, Aparo added her second goal of the game – slipping a shot by Pelletier to make it a 4-1 contest.

The play continued back-and-forth from there over the next eight minutes before Aparo found Drury, bouncing in another goal, as the Lancers when ahead 5-1 with 2:35 remaining in the half.

“These girls, they put a fire under themselves, and they just run with it,” said Policarpio. “I never doubt that they are going to go 100-percent.” 

LaPointe added a tally with 1:44 remaining in the first half, going 1-on-1 and dropping the ball in for a score as Central trailed by three at the half (5-2).

Credit belongs to the Central defense over the final 28 minutes or so of the match as the group – led by the likes of Brooke Watson, Callie Lodovico, Abby Duval, Ava Bouchard and Pelletier in the net – did not allow another goal to slip in the Central net with the home team dictating the pace over second half play.

“They’re a double-digit scoring team,” said Phelan of Eastern. “So, you keep them to five [goals] and you have a really good chance. [Eastern] was just as good defensively as we were, and they made it hard on us.”

Neither team scored over the first 10 minutes of the second half though both programs tried to push the tempo.

Central kept the offensive pressure up and with 14:47 to play, LaPointe scored the only goal of the second half via a wrap-around – trimming the deficit to 5-3 as the Rams were hanging around.

The match was physical over the final 15 minutes with one sequence seeing Hatcher fouled time and time again trying to advance the ball.

Central tried a whirling, spinning offensive set with 4:25 to play with Eastern’s defense attempting to stop the ball and seeing the home program nearly make it a one goal game.

But that goal never came and soon after, Eastern slowed things down.

“When Central slowed down a little bit, our girls saw that [and] took advantage of it,” said Policarpio. “They capitalized on that.”

Stavens took over from there, making Central commit to her, and Eastern played keep away, staving off the Rams until the final horn – securing a big 5-3 victory.

“There were just a lot of missed chances,” said Phelan about the match.

And on the flip side, Eastern scored just enough to keep Central at bay.

“Even though we didn’t score [in the second half], we played phenomenal defense,” said Policarpio. “Our attack was great. Towards the end, we obviously got a little tired but overall, I was very pleased with the way we played.”

NOTES…After the completion of the match, Eastern’s two leading scorers were nearly neck-and-neck in terms of goals. Stavens leads the program in goals with 53 while Drury (52) is just one behind with one regular season match to play…It was Senior Night at Central as Abby Duval, Eden Aubin, Abigail Quintero, Emily Lowe, Mikayla Brown, Ava Bouchard, Rachel Wygant and keeper Amy Pelletier all played in their final regular season match from home.

Bristol City Series Girls Lacrosse – CCC South Action

BRISTOL EASTERN 5, BRISTOL CENTRAL 3

from the turf field at Bristol Central High School

Scoring 1 2 – F

Bristol Eastern 5 0 – 5

Bristol Central 2 1 – 3

Scoring – First Half

*Kaylynn LaPointe, Bristol Central, 23:28

*Kenzie Aparo, Bristol Eastern, 21:27

*Venessa Drury, Bristol Eastern, 19:55

*Emma Stavens, Bristol Eastern, 17:00

*Kenzie Aparo, Bristol Eastern, 10:42

*Venessa Drury, Bristol Eastern, 2:35

*Kaylynn Lapointe, Bristol Central, 1:44

Scoring – Second Half

*Kaylynn LaPointe, Bristol Central, 14:47

Records: Bristol Eastern 11-5 overall; Bristol Central 10-6