It will be an Algonquin double-header in the lacrosse state finals later this week. Both the boys and girls lacrosse teams won their semifinal matches in East Longmeadow yesterday, setting up back-to-back championship games on Friday. The Algonquin baseball team, on the other hand, will have to wait a few more days to find out if their Cinderella season will continue after their semifinal match against Westfield was postponed due to rain.
The girls lacrosse team played first yesterday, facing Longmeadow in the semis. Longmeadow is no stranger to the state tournament, but Algonquin pulled out a 10-9 victory to become the first Central Mass team to make it to the state finals. Coach John Healy told the Worcester Telegram, “The girls, they just always believe in each other and everybody as a team and working together…They know the sum of the parts is greater than one person.”
Algonquin will face Westwood in the championship match on Friday at 5:00 pm at Foley Stadium in Worcester.
For the Algonquin boys lacrosse team it will be their second trip to the finals in as many years. Algonquin staged a second-half surge – a characteristic of their postseason play this year – to win their semifinal match over Minnechaug by a score of 11-6. The boys will face the winner of today’s Concord-Carlisle/Wellesley semifinal at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Foley Stadium.
Rain delayed yesterday’s scheduled baseball semifinal match between Algonquin and Westfield. The game will instead be played on Thursday at 4:00 pm at Szot Park in Chicopee.