KP Girls Lax Finds Groove In 22-4 Win over OA

With three players with five or more goals, the King Philip Warriors cruised to a 22-4 win over the Oliver Ames Tigers Wednesday.

Led by an offense that was scoring at will, the Warriors had no problem breaking through the Tigers defense.

“We’ve been trying to get into a grove, and I think it started right from the draw,” KP head coach Julie Pasquantonio said. "When we start to win the draw control, that's when it transitions to a goal.”

It only took 47 seconds for Katherine Riley to score the opening goal for the Warriors. Riley, who led the game with six goals along with Olivia Fair, scored three of the first five goals for the Warriors to help them jump out to an early 5-0 lead.

After an extended possession by the Tigers that led to a goal by Kristina Simonson, the Warriors called a time out and quickly added a pair of goals to their score afterwards. A goal by Fair at near-point-blank range quickly followed by a goal from Rando extended the Warriors lead to seven with a little under 9:30 left in the first half. 

Despite the solid possession by the Tigers, Oliver Ames continued to struggle to get to the net. With KP double teaming - and sometimes triple teaming - the ball handler near the net, clean looks at the goal were rare for the Tigers.

“We’ve been practicing without sticks, so the girls have been working on getting their bodies in front and really talking and communicating on defense,” Pasquantonio said.

Alicia Cuoco picked up two of her five goals late in the first half. The sophomore’s first goal came off a pass from Fair with 3:19 left in the half and the second goal came off a direct shot with 52 seconds remaining.

Up 11-2 at the half, the Warriors loaded up on more goals to put the game out of reach for the Tigers. Cuoco had three more goals in the second half, while Fair also scored three more. Jenna Liljeberg also had a goal during the second half.

With regular netminder Chandler Ross away on a school trip, the Warriors were forced to rely on backup goalie Molly Malgraf. 

“Molly really stepped it up for us, and she’s been playing great,” Pasquantonio said.

Malgraf stopped eight shots on 12 attempts on net for the Warriors.

For the Tigers, Simonson scored three goals. The first one game with 5:26 left in the first half when Simonson was able to cut in front of the goal for the OA score. The other two came early in the second half near the right post to complete the hat trick for the OA senior.

“When we get down, she’s usually the one to try to pick up everyone else's slack and hustle back and mark up to stop the other offense,” Oliver Ames head coach Kelly Downs said. 

Micheala Simoneau scored a goal for the Tigers with 10:51 left in the first half. Clarissa Romero had two assists.

King Philip improves to 8-3 overall and 6-0 in Hockomock League play. The Tigers are now 2-10 overall and 2-5 in league play.

The Warriors go on the road their next game against North Attleboro on May 3. The Tigers travel to Silver Lake Regional High School on May 7.