They say that losing can be a learning experience: so give the girls’ lacrosse team an A+. After an embarrassing loss to Norwell (#7) that had Coach Sue Paull stewing, her #8-ranked Lady Dragons lacrosse team came out of the gate on Saturday afternoon to crush #16-ranked Weston, 17-10.

Trish Babson

“Norwell walked all over us. We just didn’t play our game there,” said a disappointed Paull. “They marked us tightly and kept our big scorers from doing anything. They came prepared to play and we didn’t. It’s like we never got off the bus.”{sidebar id=4}

It was a totally different scenario over the weekend, as Paull got her point across and her team responded.

A goal by Weston’s Chelsea Nicholson in the first 29 seconds had little effect on the Dragons, as sophomore Ginny Desmery answered less than a minute later when she took a pass from Trish Babson to tie the game at 1-1.

What had been so difficult against Norwell, was making a huge difference against Weston, as Duxbury was controlling the face-offs and scoring on every one.{sidebar id=1}

“Our draw control was better, our groundball pick-ups were better, we moved the ball quickly and our defense was a lot better than it was in Norwell,” said Paull.

Goals by Meg Muncey (2), Jill Caramello, and Desmery within a two minutes span had Duxbury ahead 5-1 with 22:17 left in the half, forcing the Wildcats to call a time out to assess the damage.

When play resumed the two teams traded goals, as Brigit McCordy cut the deficit to 5-2, and Erin Levesque made one of her patented dashes up field and beat the Weston defense and goalie Cyana Chilten for a 6-2 lead.

At the 15:12 mark Abby D’Angelo scored for Weston, but Babson responded to make it 7-3, as she circled the net and fired one past Chilten.

Jamie and Jill Caramello scored goals for the Lady Dragons, sandwiched around a Kelsey Nicholson goal, and Desmery matched a tally by Weston’s Alanna Capossa that gave Duxbury a 10-5 halftime lead.

If the Wildcats were intent on matching goals with Duxbury, they were in for a long afternoon. Unable to control face-offs, Weston watched as Levesque scored the opening goal of the second half.

The Wildcats would get it back two minutes later when the Lady Dragons were forced to play a man short for three minutes after getting their fourth yellow card of the game. But thanks to Levesque, Weston could do little damage, as the senior controlled the ball for over a minute while frustrating the visitors.

Goals by Muncey (2), Jill Caramello, and Babson gave Duxbury a 15-6 lead with under eight minutes left in the game, prompting Paull to go to her bench where Julia Hannon got the call to replace starting netminder Stephanie Hoomis.

It was a big day all around for Duxbury, as Desmery, Muncey, and Jill Caramello all scored four goals each, while Babson (2), Levesque (2), and Jamie Caramello made key contributions.

With the win Duxbury qualified for post-season play and raised its overall record to 9-2-1, while Weston falls to 9-5.

Duxbury has a busy week with a pair of road games in Scituate and Pembroke before returning home on Monday to face the Westwood Wolverines: The #1-ranked team in Massachusetts.{sidebar id=6}