Canton girls earn first win, continue to gain confidence

The Canton High girls lacrosse team had been soundly defeated. The best team in the league, Avon, had dominated in a 16-4 victory. But just three days later, Canton found its confidence.

The Warriors scored a school record 18 goals in a 21-18 loss to Somers but they found a spark.

Somers took an early 4-0 lead but the Warriors refused to quit. “We couldn’t get those last few goals but they really began to believe in themselves,” Canton coach Dee Stephan said. “They began to believe they can play with these teams and succeed.”

Sophomore Olivia Sullivan had a school record seven goals in a single game while freshman Kaelyn Oliver had five. Senior Mary Grace Bangs added three. Freshman Emma Charron and Jackie Grabowski each had a pair of goals.

In the next game, Canton won its first game of the season with a 12-8 decision over Windsor. Oliver had a team-high five goals while Bangs and Charron had two goals each. Freshman goalie Amanda Gottlieb made 11 saves in net to earn her first varsity win.

“It was a great win for us,” Stephan said. “They came out with confidence (in themselves) for the first time. It was a dominant win for us. They played as a team which was very nice to see.”

Two days later, Ellington rallied from a two-goal deficit to score three unanswered goals to earn a 9-6 decision. This was the same Ellington team that beat Canton by seven on opening day. Oliver had three goals in the game while Charron had a goal and one assist.

Canton (1-8, 1-7 NCCC) is a very young team with many freshmen and sophomores with extensive experience in youth lacrosse. But they’re finding a different level of play at the varsity level in high school.

“They’re finally believing in themselves,” Stephan said. “The skills have always been there. They’re realizing that this is different than youth lacrosse but they see that they can still play at this level.”

Oliver had four goals on Tuesday as Canton dropped a 14-10 decision to Suffield. Charron and Sullivan had three goals each. Gottlieb made 10 stops in net. It was another defeat but the Warriors played much better than they did in a 12-goal loss to the Wildcats in early April.

Canton’s previous single-game high for goals was 16 in a 16-9 win over Housatonic in April 2012.

Through nine games, Oliver is the leading scorer with 25 goals while Sullivan has 16 goals. Charron has 14 goals while Bangs has 10.

Remaining games
MAY: 3: at Granby; 6: at Housatonic; 10: AVON; 13: at Watertown, 7 p.m.; 16: SOMERS; 26: HOUSATONIC