Girls Lacrosse Cruises To Blowout Victory Over Dennis-Yarmouth In Season Opener

After making it all the way to the state semifinal last year, the Nantucket girls lacrosse team has their eyes set on taking the next step this season. Their regular season began on Thursday with a road matchup against the Dennis-Yarmouth Dolphins and the Whalers handily beat DY 15-2 behind six goals and three assists from junior midfielder Emerson Pekarcik and five goals and an assist from junior attacker Cydney Mosscrop.

“It was great game,” head coach Jami Lower said. “We got a lot of draw controls. Emerson and Mayson (Lower) were pretty dominant on the draw. That is a pretty big focus for us this year. I think we won every single draw and were really working on our offensive ride. I thought Mayson did a really good job of riding and playing defense all the way down, so the ball didn’t get into our defensive end much which was awesome.”

Lower said when the defense was tested, they were up to the task. She said they are in the process of creating the chemistry that is needed to play good, structured defense with so many new players in the lineup, but Thursday was a good first step in her eyes as Lower worked all of her players into the game.

“It was great to start the season with a game like (Thursdays) because they were able to move the ball around and learn to work together a little bit,” she said. “We have a lot of new players, so that is going to be key moving forward.”

The Whalers were without their star midfielder, Bailey Lower, who missed the game due to being sick. Jami Lower said Pekarcik showed how special of a player she is with how she was able to contribute not just offensively in multiple ways, but in other areas including defensively as well.

“Emerson had a great game and Cydney had a great game, but I have to say Emerson just knows how to move the ball to the net,” Lower said. “A lot of those offensive players just shutting down the ride was key for us today. Emerson is a leader on this team, and it was great to see her play the way she did, but she impacts the game in a lot of different ways aside from scoring.”

Junior goalie Claire Misurelli is new to the position but stopped two of the four shots she faced. Lower said it was good Misurelli was able to get her first taste of live action ahead of much more challenging games ahead on the schedule where she will be much busier stopping shots.

The Whalers next game is scheduled for Saturday, April 1, when they travel to Norwell to take on the Clippers at 11 a.m.