Politis Provides 'Perfect' Ending for Mounties
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – Lexi Politis scored as time expired Tuesday to give the Mount Greylock girls lacrosse team a 17-16 win over Cape Cod Academy in the Division 4 State Tournament Round of 16.
And she was not even trying to score a goal.
“Really, we were working on transitioning the ball and passing it up the field because the ball moves faster than our feet,” Politis said. “We were trying to do that. I was trying to pass it to my teammate Phoebe [Hughes], who was cutting in the middle. It was a beautiful cut.
“But it was just a little too low a pass, and the goalie didn’t see it, and it just went in.”
The Seahawks’ keeper swiped at the ball as the horn sounded, but it slipped behind her and into the net, touching off a wild celebration for the eighth-seeded Mounties (19-2), who gave up eight straight second-half goals before denying Cape Cod Academy in the last 30 seconds to give the ball back to Politis and the offense for a transition opportunity.
“We made the most important stop at the most important time,” Mount Greylock coach Jeff Stripp said. “One hundred percent.”
As for the improbable game-winner.
“There’s no words for that,” Stripp said. “That’s just fortunate for us.
“But kudos to our players for getting a ground ball and getting it up the field and giving us an opportunity. And that stuff happens sometimes.”
For the second straight year, Mount Greylock reached the Round of 8 with a one-goal win. This year, it will face either top-seeded Ipswich (16-1) or Monomoy (16-3), who play on Thursday afternoon.
On Tuesday, Ainsley Abel scored six goals, and Sarah Polumbo scored five for the Mounties, who dominated the first half to build a 14-6 lead.
After Hughes scored in transition for the game’s first goal, Mount Greylock never trailed.
The key sequence of the first half was an 8-1 run that started Abel’s score off a draw win to give her team a 3-2 lead and ended with Abel scoring out of a scramble in front of the Seahawks goal to make it 10-3.
For a team that came into the game on an 11-game winning streak, it looked like it was going to be another red-letter day.
But the second half was dominated by a different color: yellow.
Mount Greylock was issued its fourth yellow card of the game with about 15 minutes left to play.
That sent Abel off the field for good with her team ahead, 16-9. For a time, she was joined on the sidelines by Polumbo, who was sitting out a releasable penalty.
By rule, the fourth yellow card is unreleasable, and the team plays one player short for the remainder of the game (two players short if it gets a fifth card, etc.).
Cape Cod Academy made the most of its power play opportunity, scoring six straight goals to get within one at 16-15 with 7 minutes, 13 seconds on the clock.
A minute later, the Seahawks took their fourth yellow card of the game, making the teams even strength once again.
Just 37 seconds after the teams were evened out, Taylor Bodurtha scored for Cape Cod Academy to tie the game, 16-16, with 5:27 on the clock.
Stripp said his players were a little shaken by the short-handed situation but were able to rally.
“Hats off to Cape Cod,” he said. “They did a great job coming back, and they took care of business. Our girls were … you could see a little bit of question marks in their heads. But they stayed together.
“Once we got back to even, I think they settled down and they felt more comfortable. But the fouls and the man-down didn’t help us, for sure.”
Stripp called a timeout with 5:05 left to help his team regroup for a potential winning goal.
The Mounties worked it around for several good looks, including one that rang off the post in a solid three minutes of possession time. But Flynn Kayajan and the Cape Cod Academy defense continued to frustrate the Mount Greylock offense.
“We had all the looks that we wanted,” Stripp said. “It was exactly what we wanted. And we had three good shots. I think the goalie made a save, maybe two saves, she had a great game, that goalie.
“We had our looks. It was unfortunate it went to the other end. But we got it back.”
Christy Rech, who made a couple of huge saves in the second half herself, and the Mounties defense forced a turnover that led to the final race down the field and against the clock and Politis’ third goal of the game at the buzzer.
“It was definitely a pass,” Politis said. “But it skipped in, so that works.”
Afterward, Hughes told Politis she was glad she missed it. Politis agreed that, had the connection been made, her teammate probably would not have had time to get off a shot of her own.
“It worked out,” Politis said. “And it was right as the final whistle blew, so it was perfect.”