WEYMOUTH — There is a full-blown girls lacrosse dynasty on display at Notre Dame Academy of Hingham.
The top-ranked Cougars claimed a third straight Division 2 state championship Thursday with a 14-10 victory over No. 2 Walpole at Weymouth High School.
Head coach Meredith Frank McGinnis said that the senior class was the X factor in claiming victory.
“Credit to my senior class,” Frank McGinnis said. “They finished their careers pretty strong. They were invested and dialed in from the beginning of the season and when you have seniors that care that much, it sets a good tone for the program.”
With the win, the Cougars moved into sole possession of fifth place for most state titles by a program in state history. NDA is also now one more title from tying Needham’s 1997-2000 run for most consecutive championship wins.
The final score was not fully indicative of how the flow of the game was. After Notre Dame jumped out to a 3-0 lead, Walpole got on the board and kept it close at halftime with just a 6-4 deficit.
“They gave us everything we could handle and then some,” Frank McGinnis said. “They are well coached, incredibly disciplined, athletic and fast. We knew it was going to be a game.”
This would continue in the third quarter as the Timberwolves would draw even at 7-7, necessitating a timeout from NDA.
“We had to regain the momentum as best as we could,” Frank McGinnis said. “They came hard at us. We weren’t winning the 50-50 battles. We had to make sure that we could collect our breaths and get back out there and play together.”
Senior captain Jane Hilsabeck said her team felt the adversity and shifted into a new gear to get the win.
“Everyone came to the realization that it wasn’t going to be easy work,” Hilsabeck said. “When they tied it up, we all brought it in and knew we would have to work even harder. We gave it all we could.”
The Cougars would quickly go up 11-7 and would in overall outscore Walpole 7-3 the rest of the way to claim the title for the third year in a row, an accomplishment Hilsabeck said she never imagined was possible prior to entering high school.
“It’s the best and most shocking feeling ever,” Hilsabeck said. “It was a close game, but I feel like we all worked really hard for this. It feels really rewarding.”
She and fellow senior captain Siobhan Colin led the scoring with four goals apiece. Colin called the team’s performance a fitting end to her career with the Cougars.
“We couldn’t have gone out on high school lacrosse any better,” Colin said. “It was just the best.”
