After a long and persistent season, WA Girls’ Lacrosse (WAGL) was defeated 8-6 at the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) championship game against Concord-Carlisle (CC). The 2025 lineup made history as the first girls’ lacrosse team from WA to ever make it to the state championship.
WAGL’s successful season and talented players were the main factors that enabled them to make it farther than any WAGL team before them. Through careful utilisation of offensive and defensive skills, WA played a close game on Thursday that kept the crowd on their toes.
“Phenomenal effort from all the girls, they worked really hard and it was a team effort,” WA athletic director Jeff Bunyon said. “They represented our school really well, and even though they’re disappointed now, they should be really proud of themselves.”
WAGL won the initial face-off, and immediately started out with strong offense. They were able to push CC to their side of the field and make an attempt at the goal. However, three minutes into the game, CC brought the ball back to WA’s side of the field. Sophomore goalie Ava Preysnar blocked CC’s first goal attempt, but a minute later, CC scored their first point.
WA played a defensive game for the next few minutes, with CC eventually scoring their second goal with seven minutes left in the first quarter. Even so, senior captain Kassidy Carmichael brought WA’s score up by successfully shooting two goals. In the meantime, CC also gained one more goal. This left the score 3-2, CC leading, with only two minutes left in the quarter.
Right as the first quarter came to an end, sophomore midfielder Kiley Carmichael scored WAGL’s third goal, while Preysnar blocked CC’s final goal attempt. This left the end of quarter one at a 3-3 tie.
As quarter two began, CC won the face-off, but WA wasted no time using their offensive skills to run the ball to CC’s side, and Kassidy Carmichael was able to break the tie by scoring the quarter’s first goal, bringing WA to a 4-3 lead.
Through the rest of quarter two, the Ghosts moved back and forth between defense and offense, blocking CC’s goal attempts with the help of Preysnar as well as executing attacks on CC’s net with Kassidy Carmichael and sophomore midfielder Mia Cullen leading the charge. As the quarter neared its end, the score remained at a standstill. However, CC shocked the crowd by sneaking their fourth goal past Preysnar with two minutes left in the quarter. Similarly to quarter one, quarter two ended in a tie.
During half time, both teams circled up to discuss their game plan. Quarter three began with CC winning the face-off and quickly scoring two goals, bringing them back to the lead with a score of 6-4. Nevertheless, WA fully utilized their offensive skills, and Cullen was able to score a goal, bridging the gap between both teams’ scores. The one point difference was quickly broken by CC, however, as they scored yet another goal. This ended the third quarter with a score of 7-5, CC in the lead.
As the final quarter began, WA upped their defensive game to block multiple goal attempts, which was followed by a timeout called by WA with eight minutes left in the game. When the timeout ended, CC was able to score another goal and resorted to stalling, or attempting to run out the clock by passing the ball to one another instead of trying to shoot more goals. Despite this, WA was able to get ahold of the ball, and Cullen, assisted by Kassidy Carmichael, was able to shoot the final goal of the game. WA’s goal concluded the championship game with a final score of 8-6, and CC was declared the winner.
Although the Ghosts were disappointed by their loss, they still made history by being the first ever WAGL team to make it to the championship game, and, according to senior captain Erin Keefe, they were proud of themselves for that.
“No one expected us to even make it as close to this far. We made an incredible run that very few teams ever do at WA in any sport […] and fought through a lot of tough games to get this far which speaks to the grit this team has,” Keefe said. “[…] It was our third highly competitive game in a span of five days, so I honestly think we were pretty tired going into it. I’m still very proud of how we played a clean and classy game.”
Going forward, WAGL hopes to mirror their abilities and reach the championship game again next year. They believe their experience this year as well as harder training next year will be able to bring them to this point and potentially even further.
“Next year we will train harder, stay focused, and learn from this loss so we can come back even stronger,” junior captain Evie Webber said.
