By Michael Letendre 

BRISTOL – The Bristol Eastern girls lacrosse team is on one heck of a hot streak in 2023. 

After an 0-2 start, the Lancers had reeled off five straight victories coming into their crosstown showdown against Bristol Central on Tuesday night. 

And the winning continued for Eastern as the squad scooped up eight consecutive goals on its way to a big 11-6 triumph over Central from Alumni Field on the campus of BEHS. 

Eastern – now winners of six straight matches (6-2 overall) – withstood the first surge by Central (3-4), grabbed the lead for good with 7:51 to play in the first half, seizing a huge chunk of the possession over the showdown, and never looked back. 

“We spent 17 minutes, pretty much close to that on defense,” said Central coach Kyle Phelan of his squad. “It was turnovers, it was empty possessions. Don’t take anything away from Eastern. Those empty possessions and turnovers came from their pressure. But you can’t win a game if you’re on defense for three quarters of it.” 

The Lancers outscored the Rams 6-3 over the first 25 minutes and 5-3 in second half action.

In between Central goals, a slim 3-2 edge became a 10-3 deficit before the visitors finally put some points back on the board late in the fray.  

The event started as back and forth as could be with each team hitting for three goals over the first 16:46 of the game and the 3-3 stalemate looming big on the scoreboard. 

But as the match wore on, Eastern had much more of the play in Central’s goal box – putting the Rams’ defense under fire. 

Central’s defense focused on Eastern’s goal scoring machine of Emma Stavens (two goals, two assists) which allowed the other offensive standouts for the Lancers to penetrate, make strong moves to the goal and fire shot after shot into the Central net. 

“We were kind of aware that was going to happen just because of Emma’s status and how well she’s been doing this season,” said Eastern coach Kayla Policarpio. “But she was the first to say, ‘you know what, let’s adjust’ and everyone stepped up big. She was as unselfish as I needed her to be. They all played phenomenal together.”  

Central keeper Amy Pelletier did an incredible job between the pipes, blocking several shots by talented Eastern offenders and allowed the visiting aggression to trail by just a few goals when the first half horn sounded. 

“She made big saves at big times to keep us in the game,” said Phelan of Pelletier. “She’s a competitor. She’s going to be beating up herself over the number [of goals allowed] but she kept us close.” 

Credit also belonged to Eastern goalie Avery Ellis who had several big saves and blocks while backline running mate Jayna Hatcher helped keep pesky offenders away from the goal and ignited more than a couple fastbreaks. 

Central’s Kaylynn LaPointe (two goals) started the match with a goal off a foul just five minutes into things and when teammate Emily Lowe performed a slick wraparound to tally a score, it was a 2-0 contest with 19:03 left to play in the first half. 

Eastern also had a little luck off fouls in Central’s goal area as Sarah Hartley (two goals) kicked in a score to split the difference and when Vanessa Drury (game high four goals) made her attack and splashed one in, the contest was all knotted up at 2-2 with 16:48 remaining in the half. 

About 4:30 later, Central’s Emma Burciaga dropped in a shot off a foul, giving Central its final lead of the day at 3-2. 

“I thought we competed really hard in the first seven minutes and then [again over] the last seven minutes,” said Phelan. “That middle time kind of got away from us and Eastern took advantage of it and we couldn’t bounce back.”  

Drury stayed poised, getting her second goal when she flashed a shot in via a foul shooting opportunity and with 10:53 showing on the clock, the teams were in the thick of a 3-3 battle. 

It would be the first of eight straight goals by the Kingstreeters. 

Eastern’s Kenzie Aparo added a goal, crafty Kate Patterson (two goals) dropped in a shot via a wraparound and when Stavens added her first score to the till, on a foul, the Lancers scooped up a 6-3 lead at the half. 

Eastern continued to dominate possession into the second half as Drury scored twice to open things up. 

Drury netted her first goal off an unsafe foul situation and then Aparo found the talented junior for another goal and quickly, it was an 8-3 contest with 17:47 remaining in regulation. 

“I never doubt that she’s going to go 110-percent the entire game for me,” said Policarpio of Drury. “It’s awesome to watch her play any sport and I just love…she’s just a true athlete.”  

Less than a minute later, Patterson took a shot in front of the goal, jamming it in as the Lancers zipped up seven straight goals to capture a 9-3 push. 

Stavens notched another goal with 13:44 showing on the scoreboard as Eastern tallied a 10-3 cushion. 

On an Eastern foul, Ellis stopped a shot by LaPointe as the play started to even out a bit but she was determined to get a goal into the net. 

Lapointe finally stopped the scoring drought for Central, sprinting in from the right side and finding a little daylight before making a deposit into the goal but with 7:07 left, the Lancers held an imposing 10-4 edge. 

Central’s Grace Higgins made it back-to-back scores as she added a goal – trimming the deficit to 10-5 with 5:12 remaining. 

It wasn’t over in terms of scoring for the Rams as Rachel Wygant attacked the Lancers’ goal with zest – going around the world a couple times – to score, cutting the deficit to four before a quick score by Hartley stopped the Central momentum as Eastern nabbed an 11-6 lead with 3:56 left. 

Eastern then slowed the game down just enough to keep Central at bay for the rest of the night as the Lancers came away with a huge five-goal victory from home. 

“I was a little worried because having a nice lead like that could make you comfortable,” said Policarpio. “My biggest thing was telling [the players] that ‘you’re not done until that final buzzer.’ And they carried that throughout the entire half. I had no doubt in them that they would do that. It’s always a worry when you have a cushion like that, [if] they’re going to let up a little bit, but just who these girls are, they’re working 110-percent all the time.” 

Honoring DeMonte, Hamzy and Iurato 

Before the match, both teams honored Police Sgt. Dustin DeMonte and Officer Alex Hamzy, who were killed in the line of duty on October 12, 2022, along with Officer Alec Iurato – injured during that same incident. 

The players from Central and Eastern wore sweatshirts that donned the three officers badge numbers in a stirring tribute which was attended by some of Bristol’s finest. 

Policarpio made a tremendous, emotional speech about the officers and a moment of silence was observed before the opening lineups were announced that evening.  

Bristol Girls Lacrosse  – CCC South Action    

BRISTOL EASTERN 11, BRISTOL CENTRAL 6    

from Alumni Field, BEHS    

Scoring                       1 2 – F    

Bristol Central          3 3 – 6 

Bristol Eastern          6 5 – 11    

Scoring – First Half   

*Kaylynn LaPointe (Bristol Central), 4:22 

*Emily Lowe (Bristol Central), 5:57 

*Sarah Hartley (Bristol Eastern), 7:30 

*Vanessa Drury (Bristol Eastern), 8:12 

*Emma Burciaga (Bristol Central), 12:33 

*Drury (Bristol Eastern), 14:07 

*Kenzie Aparo (Bristol Eastern), 17:09 

*Kate Patterson (Bristol Eastern), 18:43 

*Emma Stavens (Bristol Eastern), 21:21 

Halftime Score: Bristol Eastern led 6-3   

Scoring – Second Half    

*Drury (Bristol Eastern), 18:30 

*Drury (Bristol Eastern), 17:47 

*Patterson (Bristol Eastern), 16:56 

*Stavens (Bristol Eastern), 13:44 

*Lapointe (Bristol Central), 7:07 

*Grace Higgins (Bristol Central), 5:12 

*Rachel Wygant (Bristol Central), 4:24 

*Hartley (Bristol Eastern), 3:56 

Records: Bristol Eastern 6-2 overall; Bristol Central 3-4.