By Michael Letendre
BRISTOL – The Bristol Eastern girls lacrosse team is off and running this season.
And on Friday afternoon, the Kingstreeters took Alumni Field by storm for the first time in 2021-22 – getting to the pay window in a hurry.
Here’s a quick summary of the showdown as Eastern battled Lewis Mills in a CCC South confrontation:
BRISTOL EASTERN 11, LEWIS MILLS 6
Opening a scholastic season over programs who have been playing lacrosse for a lot longer is always a challenge.
And that’s what the squad from Bristol Eastern bumps up against on almost a nightly basis.
But the Lancers struck pay dirt to open the campaign, spinning rival Lewis Mills by an 11-5 final in Bristol.
It was the first of five straight home matches for the Lancers to open the year.
Eastern nabbed an early 1-0 edge, saw it tied for a bit but then ran off several goals to tally a cushion that was never challenged in the later stages of the contest.
“This new and inexperienced team has pulled together in the preseason to form a combative force,” said Eastern coach Kayla Policarpio of her squad.
Emma Stavens led the offensive charge with a half-dozen goals and two assists.
Teammate Vanessa Drury chipped in three goals and two assists while a couple newcomers to the program, Leah Roy and Sarah Hartley, each tallied a goal to complete the scoring effort.
Mackenzie Aparo added an assist along the way while keeper Avery Ellis was solid in goal, notching 18 saves on the way to the victory.
The pesky Spartans never went away and even after Drury found Stavens for the first goal of the showdown, Mills was on the attack.
Stavens later tallied a goal to make it a 3-1 contest and off a late Hartley goal with a second remaining in the first half, the Lancers scooped up a 6-4 lead.
To end the scoring in the second half, Drury sank in one final goal as Eastern wrapped up an impressive 11-5 outing to begin the spring scholastic campaign with zest.
Upcoming Eastern Schedule
Tomorrow, Eastern tangles with Rockville from home at 11 a.m. and then on the following Monday, Edwin O. Smith must spend more than a couple bucks in gas to travel to Alumni Field in Bristol for a CCC South bout.
Enfield is in town on Thursday while the following day, on Friday, April 22, Wethersfield invades Bristol.
All those matches next week commence at 3:45 p.m. – all from Alumni Field.
And then on Monday, April 25, Eastern tangles with Bristol Central for the first of two city showdown events this year.
Match time for that encounter is 6:30 p.m.
CCC South
There are twenty-two scholastic girls lacrosse teams taking the field in the Central Connecticut Conference this year, including Bristol Central and Bristol Eastern.
Both our squads in the city compete in the CCC South division along with Wethersfield, Middletown, Edwin O. Smith, Enfield, and Lewis Mills.
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