SPORTS

Toll Gate beats West in double OT

Thrilling win makes it 3 straight

Posted 4/27/22

By ALEX SPONSELLER

The Toll Gate girls lacrosse team traveled to Cranston West last week and handed the Falcons an 8-7 loss in double-overtime.

With just less than a minute remaining in the …

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SPORTS

Toll Gate beats West in double OT

Thrilling win makes it 3 straight

Posted

By ALEX SPONSELLER

The Toll Gate girls lacrosse team traveled to Cranston West last week and handed the Falcons an 8-7 loss in double-overtime.

With just less than a minute remaining in the second overtime period, Toll Gate’s Alina Jencks would draw a penalty to stop the clock and set up a shot. Jencks would find an open Adeline Areson, who would take the pass and put away the game-winner with just 17 seconds left to get the victory.

“I knew I couldn’t run, I was done, I knew there wasn’t much I could do with it so I passed it to Alina and she did exactly what I hoped for. She got the block call and I got open, it was all thanks to her,” said Areson of the final play.

Cranston West jumped out to a 3-1 lead and would take a 4-2 advantage into the halftime break. West would later extend its lead to 6-3 with 21:41 remaining in regulation, but Toll Gate would take over from there and go on to tie the score at 7-7 with 9:14 left.

Toll Gate had a chance to win the game in the final minute of regulation. The Titans had possession and would call timeout with 1:01 left to set up a final shot. Areson would get the shot off and put it in the cage, but was just one second late as the buzzer hit 0:00.

“The approach was to get the last shot, run the clock, but (Adeline) just tired herself out. Then in overtime Jill (Costello) came up with a huge stop, then from there they played heady which was awesome to see in that spot,” said Toll Gate coach Jim Areson.

The two teams went scoreless throughout the first overtime period and would force the second overtime.

Adeline Areson led the way with a game-high six goals while Maddie Clark and Jencks had one each. Toll Gate goalie Costello racked up 13 saves in the cage.

Grace Venagro and Savana Lavimodiere each scored a pair of goals for West while Kylie Paliotta, Estella Kue and Nya Mainelli added one apiece. Haley Davis made 15 saves in the cage for West.

“Communication on our end was our biggest key. Not being able to slide to cover space-wise. Our biggest thing was our communication sliding before making sure we were marking up on our end,” said West coach Bianca Madonna of the team’s second half struggles. “It was tough marking (Adeline Areson) up, and the draw, we weren’t winning the draw. Then we would have to adjust after not winning the draw and go back to marking her up the whole time.”

Despite the loss, Madonna was pleased with Davis’ outing in the cage and her leadership in the early going this spring.

“She’s one of our top players, for sure, and she is great at making sure she is always communicating with the defense. She’s a great leader and is always making sure that our players are where they need to be on the field whether we’re playing zone, playing man,” said Madonna.

The Falcons dropped to 1-2 on the year with the loss, but each of their losses were by just one point.

“It gives us motivation knowing that we are on the same level as these other teams, and what it also gives us is the ability to figure out what we need to do better in overtime and how we have to grow not only as a team but as individuals,” Madonna said.

“Defensively we were awesome, I thought Jill did great. We struggled a bit in the first half but played better in the second. We’re a work in progress and have been grinding games out. We got great senior leadership from Maddie Clark today; on the draw she was phenomenal. Addie played like Addie which helped,” said Jim Areson.

It was Toll Gate’s third straight win after losing its season opener to Portsmouth. Adeline Areson and company were happy to get back on track and turn things around quickly.

“It’s nice, I think we’re on the run now. That is just what we needed,” said Adeline. “That first game against Portsmouth was an eye opener; it showed us what we need to do to win games. We need to want it more and that is what happened today, we wanted it more in the end.”

Toll Gate, LAX, lacrosse

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