“Fuel the fire.”
This has been the Blue Devils’ motto this season. Their commitment to this phrase was apparent in the North 2, Group 4 sectional quarterfinal game against Columbia on June 2 with a dominant 19-7 win.
Head coach Katie DaSilva said, “We’ve been using everything that the seniors created for us all season. Wins, losses, refs, talking, whatever, instead of letting it get to us, it’s fueling us, making us stronger.”
The team entered the tournament as the No. 1 seed after a dominant 14-4 regular season. As they flew through the quarterfinal round, a major component in their success was the team chemistry that they built throughout the season and the energy they bring to their games.
Junior Gilli Cohen said, “It’s so helpful when you can hear and know you have the support of the sideline behind you. Everyone is so excited and wants to be there, so it makes me, as a player, really committed to working hard and wanting to win.”
Going into the tournament, the Blue Devils aimed to work on their draw control. The coaches brought in WHS alumna and former Elon womens lacrosse player Mikaela Buoscio to assist the teams draw specialists, teaching them new skills.
Senior Abi Mokrzycki, starting draw specialist, said, “I put those tricks into my game, which made a huge difference. We started focusing on the draw because that was something we needed to work on and we were really able to implement it in this game.”
Adding to that, Dasilva said, “The draw control was amazing today. [Mokrzycki] winning all of those draws was a deciding factor today.”
Earlier this season, the Blue Devils faced Colombia on April 9 to celebrate their Senior Day. What should have been an easy win turned out to be a tighter game than expected. Being down 7-4 at halftime, the team was able to recover and pull out the win.
Dasilva said, “Since senior day, we have just been working on a lot of things and on ourselves. I watched a film on them recently and they had not really changed their style of play and we had, so I did not think it was going to be a close game at all.”
Even with this mentality, the team did not lose their fire. Senior co-captain Erin Hazard said, “Our energy and effort stood out today. We started out strong from the beginning, and every quarter we came out just as hard, if not, even harder. I think we put in a team effort today. The last time we played this team, we came out slow. So, it was really good to turn that around, especially in the time it matters most.”
Hazard had a commanding game both offensively and defensively. The Trinity College commit typically plays as a defender, but because of the score gap, she was able to get more offensive opportunities. She took advantage of these opportunities and ended up having a 3 point game with 2 assists and her first goal of the season off of an eight-meter.
“I’m feeling really, really good after that goal,” Hazard said. “It’s definitely not a typical game for me and I think it will give me, individually, a lot of momentum going into our next game.”
The Blue Devils are looking to take this contagious energy into the semifinal round of the tournament. Looking forward, the Blue Devils are playing Hunterdon Central at 4 p.m. on June 5 at Gary Kehler Stadium.
