Sturgis East’s Sasha McEnaney wheels behind the St. John Paul II net while the Lions’ Amanda Gould tries to defend in Wednesday’s 16-4 Lions’ win.
Sean Walsh/Capecod.com Sports
WEST YARMOUTH – Make no mistake, St. John Paul II’s Casey Sullivan was on fire.
The Lady Lions’ midfielder scored a game-high seven goals Wednesday afternoon at the Sandy Pond Recreation Complex, and paced her Blue & Gold sisters to a convincing, 16-4 victory over the Sturgis East Storm in The Storm’s first game of the season. St. John Paul II is now 2-1 while The Storm is at 0-1.
The Lions’ Mikenzie Carbone and sophomore Jess Tierney both added two goals apiece in the win.
“Our defense played well, led by seniors Lily Almquist and Laurel Peters,” St. John Paul II head coach Mike Sullivan said. “We were able to win the majority of draws and (we were) 50/50 on ground ball battles which allowed us to control the time of possession.”
Almquist, St. John Paul II’s goaltender, made seven saves in the victory, while Sturgis East’s goalie Sophie Gibson made six saves.
Sullivan’s offensive output accounted for seven of St. John Paul II’s first 11 goals.
Sturgis East’s Hannah Conklin put The Storm on the scoreboard at the 9:56 mark of the first half, a goal which narrowed the Lions’ lead to 4-1, but the Lions’ pace of attack proved too rapid for The Storm to gain any true ground.
“This allowed us to play some of the younger players to gain the much-needed experience at the high school level,” Coach Sullivan said.
St. John Paul II’s Casey Sullivan (19) readies for the faceof with Sturgis East’s Jillian Doyle in Wednesday’s 16-4 battle in West Yarmouth.
Sean Walsh/Capecod.com Sports
Sturgis East’s Laurenn DeDecko, Cassidy Sequin and Laura Sirhal also scored.
For St. John Paul II, other goal scorers included Brianna Wooten, Olivia Bengston, Kendall Geary, Kyra McCabe and Lila Barker.
The win was the first Cape & Islands League victory for St. John Paul II and the first league loss for The Storm.
Sturgis East heads to Cape Cod Academy Thursday (April 9) for a 4:00 pm match-up while the Lions head to Bishop Stang on Saturday (April 11) for a 10:00 am game.
— Sean Walsh is the sports editor for www.capecod.com. His email is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @coachwalshccbm
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