Canton faces Somers for 4th time for Class S championship in girls lacrosse

Junior Grace Giancola (1) has scored more than 100 goals this season for Canton, which plays Somers in the Class S championship on Saturday.

MILFORD, June 10 – For the second time in three months, a Canton High team will play for a state championship. In February, the girls basketball team won its first-ever state championship with a 64-51 win over defending Class S champion Thomaston.

On Saturday, the Warriors (17-3) will try to win their first state title in girls lacrosse when Canton faces NCCC rival Somers for the fourth time this year in the Class S championship game at 2 p.m. at Jonathan Law in Milford.

No. 4 Canton has won two of the previous three games with the No. 3 Spartans (17-4). Behind five goals from Emma Charron, Canton won 14-4 in mid-April. Somers stunned Canton with a 12-11 victory in double overtime in early May. In the NCCC Tournament championship, Canton’s leading scorer Grace Giancola had six goals as the Warriors rolled to another 14-4 victory.

It’s no secret that Canton loves to score goals. Giancola has scored a school-record 104 goals this season with Charron scoring 56 and Kaelyn Oliver scoring 44 goals, including four in Tuesday’s 15-11 victory over No. 1 Old Lyme in the Class S semifinals.

Defense has helped Canton eliminate No. 12 Weston, 12-6, and No. 13 Immaculate-Danbury, 14-4 and Old Lyme. Carly Atkinson, Sarah First and Katahdin Whitney have been solid in the defensive end for Canton.

“Defense wins you hardware,” Canton coach Sean Cole always says.

Canton’s Emma Charron scores in traffic in front of the goal against Somers in the recent NCCC Tournament title game.

Somers’ leading scorers are Danielle Hollister and Madi Renaud. The Spartans have prevailed in several close matches to get to the finals for the first time since 2005. Somers beat No. 14 Morgan, 15-8, No. 11 Granby, 11-10 and No. 15 St. Joseph, 12-10. Hollister has seven goals in the last two games with Marianne Dalessio and Renaud with five goals each.

Since dropping that double OT contest to Somers on May 6, Canton has won eight of its last nine games, only dropping a 15-9 decision to Simsbury in late May. Canton won its first-ever NCCC championship and won the NCCC Tournament for the first time with the 10-goal win over Somers.