Notre Dame (Hingham) turns top-two girls' lacrosse battle with Wellesley into an emphatic rout
Get Starting Point
A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday.
Enter Email
Sign Up
NDA led, 4-2, through one quarter, 10-3 at halftime, and 15-3 through three, then entered cruise control in the fourth. Junior Taylor Watts helped the Cougars dominate the draw, ground balls, and possession the entire way.
Advertisement
'We know how powerful Wellesley is,' McGinnis said. 'Their offense is excellent. Their ball-handlers are excellent. They can score goals in batches. We knew that when we had the ball, we needed to make sure we finished. Otherwise, it was coming right back down our throats.'
Sadie Lopez, Ani Woodard, Grace Rooney, and goalie Adair Routh were also catalysts for the Cougars, who provided a steady dose of physicality and toughness in the rain.
Advertisement
Junior Tara Battaglino paced Wellesley with three goals, Olivia Comella added one, and Kaitlyn Uller, Alexa Heller, and Abby Beggans also contributed. Wellesley hung around early, but NDA simply had too much firepower.
'We knew it was going to be tough,' Wellesley coach Steve Balter said. 'That is definitely not the way we expected or wanted to play. What we just talked about is, 'What can we take from that?' '
The Cougars, who have captured three straight Division 2 state titles, have now won a whopping 52 consecutive in-state games. Their last loss to a Bay State foe came vs. Franklin on May 18, 2022. Connerty remembers it very clearly, as she had a disappointing 15th birthday.
There's no secret sauce. It's simply hard work, discipline, and execution, game after game.
'It's really cool,' Connerty said with a smile, 'but we're just looking to practice tomorrow and looking to Medfield on Wednesday.'
Trevor Hass can be reached at
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
34 minutes ago
The Engine: Alyssa Thomas driving new-look Phoenix Mercury near the top of WNBA standings
PHOENIX -- A marketing panel with Castrol landed Alyssa Thomas on a NASCAR hood. While attending the panel at the WNBA All-Star game last month, Thomas was approached by the motor oil company about putting her image on a NASCAR for an upcoming race. The Phoenix Mercury star loved the idea and helped in the design process, leading to her face making a 168-lap trip around Indianapolis Motor Speedway on the hood of RFK Racing's No. 60 Castrol Ford, driven by Ryan Preece. 'It was a fitting pairing being that my nickname is The Engine,' Thomas said. 'Not too many people can say their face is on a car, let alone in a race, so it was a really cool experience.' The Mercury had a lot of unknowns heading into the 2025 season after Diana Taurasi retired and Brittney Griner signed with the Atlanta Dream. Thomas has been the driving force behind the Mercury's rise. Fitting in perfectly in first-year coach Nate Tibbets' pace-and-space style, Thomas has been stuffing stat sheets while the Mercury have racked up wins. Entering Wednesday's games, Phoenix was fourth in the WNBA standings at 21-13 after finishing 19-21 a year ago. 'She's the ultimate winner, she's the ultimate competitor,' Tibbetts said. 'She wants to win at everything.' Thomas was the three-time ACC player of the year at Maryland and an All-American her senior season before arriving in Connecticut in a draft-day trade with the New York Liberty in 2014. The 6-foot-2 forward spent her first 11 WNBA seasons with the Sun, twice leading them to the WNBA Finals while earning five All-Star nods. She's also made the all-WNBA team three times and the all-defensive team five times. Thomas arrived in the desert via an offseason sign-and-trade deal as a key part of the Mercury's rebuilding, which includes fellow newcomer Satou Sabally and Kahleah Copper, Phoenix's leading scorer a year ago. 'It was a decision that I made,' Thomas said. 'In speaking with Nate and Nick (U'ren), I just felt it was a perfect fit for me and my game, and off the court as well.' Thomas has thrived. Already the WNBA's leader in triple-doubles, she has added five more with the Mercury, including a WNBA-record three straight this month. Thomas has 20 of the 52 triple-doubles in WNBA history and her four this month match the most of any other WNBA player's career. Thomas was named an All-Star for the sixth time in her first season with the Mercury and has become an MVP contender with some of the best numbers of her career. She's third in the WNBA with 8.6 rebounds per game and second on the Mercury at 16.1 points while shooting a career-high 54.3% from the floor. Thomas' biggest impact in Tibbetts' offense may be her playmaking. Despite having the size of an interior player, she's used her vision and court awareness to become the WNBA's most prolific distributing forward. Thomas set the WNBA single-season record for assists with 316 in 2023 and is seventh on the league's all-time assists list — the only forward in the top 10. While in Phoenix, she's nearly doubled her career assist average with a league-leading 9.0 this season — over five per game more than the next closest player. 'There's just so much space and I feel like it's a perfect fit for me,' Thomas said. 'It's been a long time since I've played with this many shooters.' The Engine has been revving all season and is taking the Mercury with her.
USA Today
37 minutes ago
- USA Today
Former head football coach says UNC now committed to football
Mack Brown made a bold statement about Bill Belichick and the UNC football program. When Mack Brown returned as UNC's head football coach, the initial hope was he could bring a National Championship to Chapel Hill, just like he did with the Texas Longhorns. Brown's first season back leading the Tar Heels ended in promise, with a 2019 Military Bowl victory against Temple their first in six years. Outside of a 2022 appearance in the ACC Championship game, Brown's second stint at North Carolina ended in disappointment, leading to his firing late last season. Now with 8-time Super Bowl champion Bill Belichick in charge, Brown says UNC now finally cares about building a winning program. "Chancellor Lee Roberts is committed to football big-time, for the first time in North Carolina history,' Brown said in an appearance on The Herd with Colin Cowherd. 'They are really wanting football to be good, so they're all in and that gives them a chance to be successful. Bill is arguably the best coach of any sport. When you win that many Super Bowls, whatever level, the man can coach.' Belichick won two Super Bowls as the New York Giants' defensive coordinator, then six more with the New England Patriots. The hope in Chapel Hill is that Belichick can turn the Tar Heels, who haven't won an ACC Championship since 1980, into a conference threat and National Championship contender. Previously, Belichick said he wants to run UNC like an NFL-style program. With college football turning increasingly professional, thanks to NIL money and the transfer portal, Brown says this will help Belichick in his first year as a college coach. "And now, administrators don't like to say it, but we have pro football at some level in college," Brown continued. "We no longer have amateurism. We have payment scales, we've got NIL, kids are asking for money, they have agents, there's negotiations. So I do think the fact that we are much more like the NFL than ever before will really help Bill with this transition." The entire sports world will get to watch Belichick's collegiate coaching debut on Monday, September 1 at 8 p.m. ET against TCU – under the Kenan Stadium lights. How will the Belichick era start at North Carolina? Follow us @TarHeelsWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of North Carolina Tar Heels news, notes and opinions.
Yahoo
39 minutes ago
- Yahoo
'My Heart Beat Faster': Sergei Fedorov Recaps Finding Out Of Jersey Retirement News
The iconic No. 91 jersey of former Detroit Red Wings forward Sergei Fedorov will soon be taking its rightful place in the rafters of Little Caesars Arena, and will be displayed alongside the eight previously retired numbers that include his teammates Steve Yzerman and Nicklas Lidstrom. Over 22 years after his departure from the franchise in a contentious free agency saga, Fedorov is being appropriately honored for his time in Detroit that included three Stanley Cup wins, a 1994 Hart Trophy win, multiple All-Star Game appearances, and several other personal accolades. Fedorov revealed how he found out about the news from Red Wings CEO Chris Ilitch, saying that his heart instantly began beating faster when he learned of the honor. 'The day before, I had been told to expect a call,' Fedorov said via 'I understood the general idea but didn't ask too many questions. I've always had a good, respectful relationship with the organization. The next day, I got a message saying that Chris Ilitch would be calling me. My heart immediately started beating faster." 'When we spoke, we first exchanged the usual questions about how things were going, how our families were doing, and then he shared the news with me. Honestly, in the first three or four minutes of the conversation, I wasn't 100 percent sure where it was headed." Fedorov explained that a wave of nostalgia overtook him as Ilitch began describing some of the amazing accomplishments that he helped the franchise achieve. "But then he started listing all of our victories, our achievements, and how long it took to get there," he said. "At that moment, it took my breath away. Memories rushed back—our struggles, our bumps along the road, and of course that unforgettable parade of emotions after winning our first Stanley Cup." Fedorov was one of the key elements in Detroit's 1997 Stanley Cup victory, which was the franchise's first title in 42 years. But his relationship with the team took a turn in the months that followed after he held out of Training Camp and the first several months of the regular season as part of a contract dispute. Bookmark The Hockey News Detroit Red Wings team site to stay connected to the latest news, game-day coverage, and player features. Fedorov also signed a lucrative offer-sheet from the Carolina Hurricanes, owned at the time by bitter Mike Ilitch business adversary Peter Karmanos. The Red Wings matched the offer sheet and ended up paying Fedorov $28 million in 1998 alone, which included a $2 million base salary, a $14 million signing bonus, and a $12 million bonus for reaching the Conference Final, which they did en route to a second straight Stanley Cup win. Fedorov remained with the Red Wings through 2003, adding another Stanley Cup to his résumé in 2002. That offseason, in a controversial move, he signed a free-agent contract with the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, the very team that had eliminated Detroit in the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs just months earlier in a stunning four-game sweep. For many Red Wings fans, the decision felt like a betrayal after they had spent over a decade cheering him. When Fedorov returned to Hockeytown in December 2003 with the Mighty Ducks, he was met with relentless boos. Thankfully, the passage of time has mended the fences between not only Fedorov and the organization, but with the fans. Fedorov's No. 91 will raised to the rafters at Little Caesars Arena on January 12, and no doubt the cheers will be deafening - not only from fans who were fortunate enough to watch his Red Wings career in real time as it unfolded, but also from younger fans who know his brilliance only through highlight reels. Never miss a story by adding us to your Google News favorites.
