Paly girls’ lacrosse defeated St. Francis 19-17 tonight on a brisk evening under the home lights, propellingthe Vikings to a record of 5-1.

“[The Paly girls’] played hard which is the most you can ask for.” Coach Jamie Nesbitt said. “I don’t think they were going to let them take this from us.”

The game started off with a quick shot from Julia Farino (‘13), who sliced through the St. Francis defense, embedding the ball into the right hand corner of the goal.

St. Francis responded only two minutes later with a weak goal off a rebound from goalie Lauren Borchers (‘12).

Paly gained momentum with two successive goals from Charlotte Biffar (‘13) and Anemarie Drez (‘14), bringing the score to 3-1.

This burst of momentum was temporarily stopped with a deep shot by St. Francis, made with 17 minutes left in the first half.

The Vikings and the Lancers proceeded to trade goals, bringing the score to 4-3 with under 13 minutes remaining.

After St. Francis tied the game with another shot, Paly broke the tie with a 3-0 scoring run, highlighted by goals from Kimmie Flather (‘12), Simone Buteau (‘13), and Nina Kelty (‘13), bringing the score to 7-4.

St. Francis and Paly continued to swap shots, bringing in two goals each for the remainder of the period. The first half ended with goals by Flather and Layla Memar (‘12), leaving the score at 9-7.

The Viking’s faltered with the start of the second half, giving St. Francis a chance to come back. The Lancers scored four shots in under ten minutes, interrupted only once by a goal from Bria Vicenti (‘13).

Paly rebounded with two consecutive goals, tying the game to 12-12 with 13 minutes left.

In a suspenseful moment, the Vikings broke the tie as Flather threaded the ball to Drez, who proceeded to plant it safely into the net.

Anna Dairaghi (‘13) extended the lead with a quick shot, leaving 12 minutes left of the game.  Following Dairaghi, St. Francis was finally able to stop the streak with a smooth goal.

As the intensity mounted, the Vikings ramped up their play. The Kelty sister duo each had a goal respectively within 30 seconds of each other.  The Viking scoring machine was not denied when Dairaghi and Emy Kelty scored two more shots for Paly, bringing the score to 18-13 with six minutes left.

St. Francis made a late run with two consecutive goals, bringing the score deficit down to three, with three minutes remaining.
The Vikings struck back with an aggressive shot by Nina Kelty with 2:30 seconds left of the game, bringing the score up to 19-15.

St. Francis proved they were not going out quietly, scoring two goals in the last two minutes. With 60 seconds left, the score was 19-17.

The game ended in a thrilling fashion as St. Francis missed shots off the crossbar. Despite the late St. Francis resurgence, the Vikings held on to the win, concluding the game with a score of 19-17.

After the game senior captain Kimmie Flather expressed her positive feelings on the win.

“I think we stepped it up and brought it to them.” Flather said.

The Vikings look to improve for the upcoming games.

“We just need to improve on the little things,” Flather said. “Completing the pass and slowing down when you need to. Just figuring out what you’re supposed to do and when you’re supposed to do it.”

The Paly girls’ will play the Pioneer’s next on Friday 23 on the Pioneer turf.