Robbie Granara leads Reading boys’ lacrosse to Division 2 state championship game versus Duxbury

Reading led 2-1 after one, but Longmeadow (15-7) cut it to 5-4 at the break thanks in large part to Colin Brunette, who finished with a hat trick.

The Lancers took a 6-5 lead in the third on a goal from John Wright, but Reading got goals from Granara and Centrella to make it 7-6 after three.

A late goal by Aidan Koster expanded Reading’s lead to 10-7 with 3:47 left. Forty-one seconds later, Anthony Coulouras cut it to 10-8, but Reading staved off the Lancers to seal its title berth.

Division 4 State

Cohasset 12, Weston 6 — Finally, the Skippers are returning to the state championship.

After experiencing a heartbreaking overtime loss to Wahconah in last year’s state semifinal, top-seeded Cohasset left no doubt with a dominant semifinal victory over fourth-seeded Weston at Weymouth High.

Cohasset (19-2) will play second-seeded Sandwich (15-7) at 4:30 p.m. Saturday at Babson in the program’s first state final appearance since the 2018 squad captured the Division 3 crown with an 11-3 victory over Dover-Sherborn.

”It’s amazing,” Cohasset coach Steve Rotondi said. “It’s brand new because nobody is here from the last state title run.”

Cohasset overpowered Weston (14-6) from the opening faceoff, establishing a 5-0 lead after junior Liam Appleton (3 goals) scored twice to lead a balanced attack that included goals by seniors Luke Willmott (2 goals) and Charlie Donovan (4 goals) and junior John Shannon in the opening 12 minutes.

”Every single one of them was calm, cool, and collected,” Rotondi said. “These types of games can be a lot at times, but every single one of them was ready.

“I could see it from the opening whistle that they were all ready to go.”

Cohasset took a 7-2 lead into halftime before Donovan netted three third-quarter goals to help the Skippers extend their lead to 12-2 after outscoring the Wildcats 5-0 in the frame.

”We had to come out hot and set the tone in the second half,” Donovan said.

Senior goalie Jake Shulkin, fellow senior Hamish Bremner, and sophomores Quinn Garry and Joe Ladosci each tallied fourth-quarter goals for Weston, but the late surge wasn’t enough to take down the Skippers, who will face Sandwich, which defeated Dover-Sherborn, 11-8, in a semifinal on Wednesday.

Cohasset earned a 10-4 regular-season victory at Sandwich when the teams met May 16.

”It’s going to be a game with two teams that are familiar with each other,” Rotondi said. “We’ll see what happens between the lines.”

Division 3 State

Ipswich 8, Manchester-Essex 6 — All year, Ipswich girls’ lacrosse coach Allison Tivnan has emphasized the team over the individual. In Thursday’s Division 3 semifinal against Manchester-Essex, that emphasis proved pivotal.

With Halle Greenleaf, the Tigers’ star scorer, heavily defended, top-seeded Ipswich relied upon five other players to score an 8-6 victory over No. 5 Manchester-Essex in the completion of a weather-delayed game that was played over two days at Whittier Tech in Haverhill.

In Wednesday’s first half, Ella Stein converted on a free position shot to give Ipswich (19-1) a 1-0 lead just 40 seconds into the game. Hornets goalie Brigid Carovillano (six saves) made two stellar saves quickly thereafter. Paige Garlitz evened the game for Manchester-Essex (14-8) about 10 minutes into the frame.

Ipswich wasn’t down long. Carolyn Bailey and Kayden Flather tallied to help the Tigers regain the lead, 3-1, but Sylvie McCavanagh brought Manchester-Essex back within a goal. The Hornets nearly tied it with 3:35 left before halftime, but Ipswich goalie Ashton Flather made a show-stopping save on Ella Chafe’s bid.

Bailey scored her second goal of the half with 2:06 left, capping off a first half where she assumed the role of offensive playmaker from the tightly-guarded Greenleaf.

“She came up really big for us,” said Tivnan. “We have some big names that people know about, but she’s made herself known for sure.”

With mere seconds before the half, McCavanagh added her second goal to make it 4-3. With two minutes left in halftime, lightning appeared in the distance delaying the second half until Thursday.

After the public address announcer signaled the resumption of play Thursday following the “MIAA’s longest halftime.” Lucy Winthrop won the opening second-half draw for Ipswich. The sophomore’s contributions on faceoffs was key to the Tigers’ success late.

“I was nervous at first because I lost a couple in the first half,” said Winthrop. “I just believed in myself and got it to Halle, who always wins those groundballs.”

Chafe evened the game for Manchester-Essex three minutes into the half, but after Lucy Donahue intercepted a Hornets’ pass, Allie Wile reestablished Ipswich’s lead a minute later. Chafe scored another goal that tied it, 5-5.

Goals in quick succession by Winthrop and Greenleaf gave the Tigers the lead again, 7-5, but Manchester-Essex didn’t flinch. Lucy O’Flynn scored with 11 minutes left to bring the Hornets within one.

Stein netted her second goal of the contest with eight minutes left to give the Tigers a two-goal buffer. Flather made three of her 10 overall saves in the last four minutes to thwart the Hornets’ late charge.

Kevin Stone reported from Lincoln-Sudbury, Brad Joyal from Weymouth High, and Kat Cornetta from Whittier Tech.