The Hall girls lacrosse team defeated Avon 11-4 on a rainy Monday in West Hartford.

Sports reporting is sponsored by Keating Agency Insurance

By Paul Palmer

Lucy Gwiazdoski scored four times and Anya Leshem added three more as the Hall girls lacrosse team kept Avon winless on the season with an 11-4 win. The game was played in rainy, windy, chilly conditions, but neither team seemed to be impacted by the conditions on Hall’s turf field.

Avon (0-8) got on the board first on Lily Anderson’s goal 2:14 into the game. Hall then ran off the next three scores to take the 3-1 lead after one. The first was scored by Aliza Schlief who had strong play in all aspects of the game, including defense. One minute later, Leshem gave Hall its first lead of the game at 2-1. Then it was Gwiazdoski cutting the to the center of the crease and firing a shot past goalie Tessa Robertson.

The Falcons were threatening just 1:24 into the second when they had an 8-meter attempt. The visitors went for the pass but Schlief cut in front of the Avon player, intercepted the ball, and carried it safely to midfield to lead the transition.

Hall (7-2) ranked eighth in Class L, carried the time of possession throughout the game with long periods of time controlling the ball in the offensive zone. Less than four minutes into the second, Schlief scored the second of her two goals on a play setup by Leshem. The junior started toward the goal and drew defenders out, creating space behind them that Schlief filled. Leshem dropped a nice pass over the defense to Schlief who caught it, spun to face the goal, and then scored to make it 4-1.

The Titans had three chances from the 8-meter to add to the lead, but the Avon defense turned them away twice and Robertson made a save on the third. Not to be outdone, Titans goalie Corinn Fabas denied an Avon 8-meter try with 3:10 to go.

Fabas had a strong game in net for Hall, especially on high shots, coming away with more than a dozen saves. The save on the 8-meter led to her team’s next goal as the Titans transitioned quickly off the save and the play ended when Teagan Cohane found space to the right of Robertson and scored the goal going high.

The Avon goalie stopped Gwiazdoski twice on 8-meter tries as the half was winding down, and her teammates rewarded the hard work by scoring their own goal with just one minute to play to take it to 5-2 at the half.

As the rains continued in the second half, they didn’t slow down Hall or Gwiazdoski. Forty-eight seconds in she cut in front of Robertson who made a save but could not control the rebound. Gwiazdoski found the free ball and knocked it in on a backhand for her side.

The next goal was scored by Sam Shannon who used perseverance to get the goal. She was fouled moving in on goal and awarded an 8-meter. She was fouled again on her attempt on the 8-meter and then converted with a bounce shot on her second attempt to make it 7-2.

With time winding down in the third, Hall’s Charlotte Reidel turned in a defensive gem as she took the ball away from an Avon attacker as she moved in on Fabas’ goal with just seconds to play.

Gwiazdoski started the fourth quarter scoring, again in the first minute if play, when she deked several defenders while carrying the ball to create a shooting lane and then scored on her shot. Leshem would pick up another goal about 90 seconds later when she shredded her defender along the right side and buried her shot in the net. Avon responded with a continued attack that saw Fabas make three big saves, including two from in close.

With 7:13 to play, Gwiazdoski picked up her final goal of the game when she went high from in tight on Robertson and the ball got over the top of the goalie’s web and went into the net.

The next score went to Avon as Lizzie May delivered on an 8-meter by going low on Fabas. Leshem had the answer to that goal as she won the draw, grabbed the free ball, carried it into the offensive zone, and scored Halls 11th in the game. Avon would add a late goal off a defensive turnover by Hall deep in their zone to make it an 11-4 final.

Next up for the Titans is Class LL 11th-ranked Glastonbury on the road on Wednesday, followed by another tough matchup with Class LL No. 9 Southington in West Hartford.

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