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WILKES-BARRE – Brigid Wood and Hailee Dumont got a head start on developing the bond that they showed on the Coughlin attack Thursday afternoon.
Wood and Dumont combined to score a dozen goals when Coughlin ran away from visiting Crestwood 18-6 in a Wyoming Valley Conference girls lacrosse game.
Before Coughlin even had a lacrosse team, Wood headed to the Back Mountain Youth Lacrosse Association to learn the game as a seventh grader.
A year later, Wood convinced her friend, Dumont, to come along.
The juniors, the only two Crusaders to have experience in the sport prior to joining the high school team, have worked together ever since.
“We started off lacrosse together,” said Wood, who scored seven goals and assisted on one. “ … We went up there and we’ve played together for a while.”
Wood and Dumont were too much for the Crestwood defense. They each had multiple goals in both halves to lead Coughlin’s offense in the meeting between two of the three WVC teams that had started 1-0.
The Crusaders have won their first three games, including a non-league contest, by a combined margin of 60-12 to establish themselves as the top threat to dethrone Wyoming Seminary.
Crestwood’s speed made the game interesting early, and Coughlin also needed a big contribution from goalie M’kensie Lee to build a 7-3 halftime lead.
“I think we just slowed down and played the game at our pace,” Wood said. “They’re a fast team and they have a lot of girls who can just run past you.
“We learned to just try to contain their speed and use our passing more so than just trying to outrun them.”
Lee made seven of her nine saves before intermission and Crestwood had two other shots hit the post in the closing minutes of the first half.
“I think we started off a little slow, but then as the game went on, we started working together better,” Lee said.
The Crusaders fell behind in the first minute and did not take the lead for good until just past the midway point of the first half.
Wood, Kelsey Gabriele and Dumont scored in a span of 4:28 to produce a 5-2 lead.
Coughlin put together three quick goals twice early in the second half to break the game open. They connected in a span of 1:29 and again in a stretch of 2:53 to turn an 8-4 lead into a 14-5 advantage with 13:48 left.
With goals 1:07 apart, Wood completed the outburst and her seven-goal effort
Lizzy Dessoye scored three goals to lead Crestwood.
“They’re very quick,” said Coughlin coach Colleen Wood, who thought that despite the offensive production her team is still dropping too many passes. “They have a lot of good athletes.
“Nobody’s used to being outside yet.”
Coughlin 18, Crestwood 6
Crestwood 3 3 – 6
Coughlin 7 11 — 18
SCORING — CR, Lizzy Dessoye (3 goals), Sam Brumagin (1 goal), Daniella Callaghan (1 goal), Hannah Ackers (1 goal). CO, Brigid Wood (7 goals, 1 assist), Hailee Dumont (5 goals), Kyra Wozniak (2 goals), Kelsey Gabriele (1 goal, 1 assist), Savanna Robinson (1 goal, 1 assist), Kristi Pearage (1 goal), Bailey Bukeavich (1 goal).
Shots – CO 20, CR 29. Saves — CR 7 (Emily Anderson 6, Sara DeSino 1), CO, 9 (M’kensie Lee).