NORTHAMPTON — The Northampton girls lacrosse team suffered its first loss of the season Wednesday night.

An 11-5 loss to Agawam snapped an eight-game winning streak to open the season and came in its Valley Wheel opener.

Abby Baldwin opened the scoring for the Blue Devils with a goal 25 seconds from the opening draw. She ran from midfield into the attack zone after recovering the opening draw. This was the only lead of the game for Hamp.

Agawam responded with a goal 1:25 later. Both teams traded goals before the seven-minute mark. Agawam then scored three unanswered before Northampton called its first timeout at 13:45 trailing 5-2.

Agawam took a four-goal lead before the Blue Devils added one from Hannah Sledzieski to close out the half down 6-3.

“We were excited to play,” Northampton coach Katie Carr said. “We were ready. It’s hard when you don’t win the 50-50 opportunities and people get tired on our defense. It was a lot on our defense. I’m really impressed with the way they played today.”

Agawam opened the scoring in the second half, but Alli Zadworny matched it for the Blue Devils, bringing the score to 7-4. But Northampton allowed three goals before a strike from Sledzieski made it 10-5 with 14:45 left.

The Blue Devils did not have an answer for Agawam’s offense and could not break through its defense.

“They were really good at catching the ball,” Sledzieski said. “That’s a big part of the game. They got a lot of ground balls. They were ultimately out-hustling us I think. That’s what it came down to in the end.”

Goalie Michelle Radke had five saves.

Hamp had opportunities throughout the game, Carr said, but it did not capitalize.

“We have to shoot,” Carr said. “We have to place our shots a little better, too. We missed the cage a few times which hurt us.”

Agawam moved to 7-1 overall, 3-1 in the league.

“We get to see them again which is great,” Carr said. “We know what we’re looking for. The girls just have to bounce back from it. A loss is a loss.”

Carr said the team has more to work on, including ground balls and ground control. The Blue Devils will look to bounce back against Minnechaug at home on Monday.

“Losing never feels good, but I guess there is some pressure taken off,” Sledzieski said. “But we still have Minnechaug and there’s definitely some pressure coming into that game.”

]]>