BRAINTREE — Bella Duffy stood on the left wing with her stick held at her waist and with the weight of a career-long losing streak on her shoulders.
The Braintree senior and Iona commit, along with everyone else on her team, had never beaten Weymouth in their varsity lacrosse careers. Now, Duffy stood ready for a free position shot with the game tied in overtime a few minutes after scoring the tying goal at the end of the fourth quarter to force the extra period.
The whistle blew, and the inevitable happened.
Duffy sprinted toward goal, running past Weymouth defenders, shot with her left hand and scored near the crease, winning the game for the Wamps, 10-9.
The senior leaped into the air once the ball hit the back of the net, sprinted down the sideline and toward midfield while being chased by her teammates. Duffy finished the game with a team-high five goals and an assist.
“It’s a great way to bookend my career against (Weymouth),” Duffy said. “I felt like during the game I wasn’t playing my best, so to be able to pick it up at the end and finish like that, just winning in general and celebrating with my team in general, is so cool.”
Weymouth out-scored Braintree in the fourth quarter, but it was the Wamps that owned the first half. Braintree scored the game’s first three goals in the first quarter, coming from Emily McDonough, Frankie Mazzini and Mia Francis, to grab hold of the momentum.
Wamps goalie Norah Downey came up big with saves throughout the game to help keep Braintree ahead, especially during the first and fourth quarters.
“She is an absolute rock star,” Braintree coach Jillian Coene said about Downey. “She’s one of the reasons we won. She’s progressed so much. She played three games freshman year, last year she had 158 saves and now she’s surpassed 300 saves this season. She’s a key player for us for sure. She’s come up big in a lot of key games that have gotten us wins.”
Weymouth got on the board for the first time with 10 minutes to go in the second quarter when Kendall Rogers got free at the top of the formation and scored with a bounce shot.
Mackenzie O’Sullivan responded for Braintree a minute later, getting on the end of a pass from behind the net and scoring. Both teams continued to trade goals until the final minutes of the second quarter when Kiana O’Sullivan and Sadie Webster scored back-to-back goals for the Wildcats to close the gap to 5-4 going into halftime.
Braintree responded to Weymouth’s offensive push early in the third quarter with two goals of its own coming from Ella MacDonald off a pass from Duffy, before Duffy got a goal of her own a few minutes later to make it 7-4.
Duffy struggled to get space on offense during the first half of the game against the Wildcats’ defense. Weymouth used a zone defense and put a second defender on the senior when she had the ball at the top of the formation, making it difficult for her to make runs in on net.
“Against a zone it’s more about how the defense shifts and cutters,” Duffy said about facing the defense. “Our team did a great job looking for girls in the middle. Great finishes off assists.”
Then the tide turned.
Weymouth started to win more draws and 50-50 balls, controlling possession and getting more opportunities on offense.
The Wildcats used their extra opportunities to their advantage, scoring five of the game’s next six goals. Kira Keenan scored the first two. The Wamps responded with a goal, but consecutive goals from Lily Krawciw, Keenan and Mira Flaherty gave Weymouth its first lead of the game with four minutes to go in regulation.
In the final minutes of the fourth quarter, trailing for the first time, Braintree leaned on its leader.
Duffy held the ball at the top of Braintree’s formation, forcing a second defender to play her. The senior roll dodged past both of her defenders, got free on the left wing and scored with a minute to go to tie the game.
Weymouth had a handful of opportunities in the fourth quarter’s final seconds to steal the game with shots on net, but Downey came up big with saves, keeping it tied and forcing overtime.
“She’s such a smart player,” Duffy said about Downey. “She’s an amazing goalie. Watching her play from the other side of the field, she fires me up.”
Braintree won the opening draw in the overtime period and the ball found its way to Duffy. From there, the senior initiated a run toward goal, but was fouled on the play, setting up the free position shot and eventual game-winning goal.
“Everyone wanted (to win) because it’s a rivalry, but also because we wanted our seniors to have that special moment (of beating Weymouth),” Coene said. “In the huddle, it was refusing to leave the field with a loss. … They dug deep.”
Coming into the game, Duffy needed seven points to tie Braintree’s all-time record for points in a career. She finished the game with six.
“I knew I was close,” Duffy said about the record. “I knew how many I was away, but just tried to keep it out of my head as much as possible. That is when you play selfishly. Just keep myself in line and play with the team and not for myself. The goals and assists come when they do. Doing my job is more important.”
Braintree’s next game is against Needham on May 20, while Weymouth will try to bounce back against King Philip on Friday.
