WESTBOROUGH — A five-goal deficit greeted the Northampton girls lacrosse team almost as soon as the Blue Devils stepped off the bus.
Top-seeded Westborough scored 80 seconds into its 17-8 win in the Central/West Division 1 Tournament quarterfinals.
The Raiders quickly added four more goals to make it 5-0 with 19 minutes, 9 seconds to halftime. They controlled the draw at first to keep possession away from No. 8 Northampton and keep scoring.
“We want the ball. There’s very few sports where you can score and get the ball back immediately, and lacrosse happens to be one,” Westborough coach Colleen Debish said. “If we have the ball our opponent isn’t scoring, we are.”
Northampton coach Katie Carr called timeout after the fifth goal.
“We came out a little flat, which was hard for us,” she said. “We were on our heels for a few minutes, and then we realized, ‘OK, time to play.’”
Megan McCarthy provided Northampton’s example, as she had all season. The Bryant-bound senior found the net with 17:58 left from a free position for the Blue Devils’ first goal. She had a hat trick by halftime as Northampton trailed 11-3.
“She really carries the team,” Hamp junior Abby Baldwin said. “She’s a great captain.”
McCarthy played a part in the Blue Devils’ first four goals, assisting Baldwin with 19:50 left in the second half. McCarthy finished with four goals and an assist.
Baldwin also had a hat trick. She scored three times in the second half, which Northampton (13-7) played nearly even with Westborough (17-0) at 6-5.
“The second half was a huge improvement from the first half,” Baldwin said. “We started to be more patient on offense, win the draw, try different things on the draw. It resulted in a few quick goals, which we definitely needed.”
Northampton faced a running clock down 13-3 with 22:04 left after a Nicole Foster (seven goals, three assists) goal.
Baldwin scored from McCarthy to reduce the margin to nine.
Northampton scored three goals in the game’s late stages to pull within eight with 2:25 left.
Baldwin got her third to make it 16-6, then junior Sky Andrews found the net from McCarthy at 2:36 to make it 16-7.
“In the second half, we really pulled it together thinking, ‘Hey, this could be our last half out here as a team,’” McCarthy said. “They played for us, they played for the seniors who aren’t going to be there next year.”
McCarthy closed Northampton’s scoring 11 seconds later after she took the draw and raced down the middle of the field for a clear, low shot. She finished her Northampton career with 214 goals and 298 points.
“She’s so unselfish. She really looks for the other opportunities,” Carr said. “She looks for other ways to make it a team effort and involve everybody.”
It was the final game for Northampton seniors McCarthy, Summer Zackaricz, Hannah Sledzieski, Tieyin Doherty-Weinraub and Matti Tacy.
“We’re going to miss them a lot, but they definitely rubbed off on our younger people,” Carr said. “I’m excited to see how our younger kids step up and follow in their footsteps.”
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com.