The Halo Effect

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Rivals Cannondale, Silvermine to Clash in Girls' Lacrosse Championship

It's time to get ready for Cannondale vs. Silvermine girls lacrosse, round two. The two top-ranked teams in the conference advanced to the championship with decisive wins in the semifinals as No. 2 Cannondale beat No. 3 Essex 13-10 and No. 1 Sivermine beat No. 4 Deerfield 11-5.

The Gators (16-0) and the Blue Wave (15-1) will clash for the championship this Saturday at 11 AM at Boston College's Newton Campus lacrosse stadium. It's a rematch of the last two league championships, with Cannondale winning in 2019 and Silvermine winning last spring. Silvermine also won the regular season matchup in April, 9-7.

In the semis, Silvermine led Deerfield 6-4 early in the second half before going on a 5-1 run to blow the game open. Marrisa Humphry led the Gators with four goals, followed by Ashley Morgan with a hat trick, and two goals each from Lexie Nolan and Gabrielle Kinder.

"They came out and played hard," Silvermine Academy coach Lauren Larson said. "They won the draw, went hard to goal, built the lead and then we were able to sub a bit. It's really characteristic of Silvermine teams: aggressive, running them over and coming up with the ground balls. They're ready to take down Cannondale again."

In the second semifinal, Cannondale led Essex for the entire game and went on to win by three. Chandler England led the team with a game-high 5 goals, and dished out 1 assist. She gave the Blue Wave a 3-0 lead in the opening half. The Blue Wave demonstrated its offensive depth as juniors Kelsey Jackman and Macallan Blake each scored hat tricks. Gianna Lash and Shay Logan also scored one apiece.

The Blue Wave showed its dominance all over the field. England had six draw controls and Blake had two, while Lash and Logan led the team with three groundballs each. The Blue Wave also received six saves from the Yale University-bound goalie Delaney Xie.

Cannondale will meet Silvermine on Saturday without their starting draw specialist England, as she sustained a knee injury during the second half of the game. She will end this season with 102 draw controls.

"Offensively, not having Chandler England is a monumental loss. People don't realize all the things she did apart from taking the draw and scoring. There was a lot she did instinctively," Cannondale coach Merideth Mayer said in a statement made after receiving confirmation that England tore her ACL. "Nobody can replace her. But now there are opportunities for our other players to step up. Macallan Blake, Gianna Lash, and Shay Logan are all exceptional midfielders who work well together. It's tough to expect the offense to run with incredible precision after losing Chander, but it needs to come together before the championship game."

Don't miss the epic season conclusion between Massachusetts's top private school girls lacrosse programs, No. 1 Silvermine girls lacrosse and No. 2 Cannondale.

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I woke up in my own bed in the townhouse on Friday morning, just as I had yesterday. I blinked the sleep out of my eyes, still puffy from crying, and forced myself to focus on the rotating blades of the ceiling fan.

I hadn't slept well. I assumed this had pretty much everything to do with my right leg being elevated on multiple pillows and the dull pain in my knee. While I understood this was necessary to control the swelling and inflammation, being sleep-deprived certainly wasn't benefiting my mental state.