PROVIDENCE – Moses Brown has played in the last 11 RIIL girls lacrosse championships and won the last three, but on Wednesday the Quakers weren’t thinking about what could happen across the street.
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They were locked in on the task at hand.
The last time Moses Brown played La Salle, the Rams put up quite the fight in the first half. The Quakers took note and in Wednesday’s RIIL Division I semifinal, took any chance La Salle had of winning out of the equation early. The offense executed to perfection, the defense attacked and Moses Brown rolled to a 16-2 win, earning a spot in Sunday’s RIIL championship game.
“It was a team win today. We were really trying to work together and feed each other and work on our fundamentals,” Moses Brown senior Sophia Mocco said. “We were going over it all [Tuesday] in practice and we were just super excited to play. La Salle did a great job, but it was super good and a great time for our seniors, especially.’
“The whole week we’ve been catching ourselves talking about it, but we had to win and make it there first,” Moses Brown defender Tanner Lagor said. “We’re all super relieved to have made it and now we have to figure out our schedule.”
Moses Brown was the favorite on Wednesday, but that didn’t mean the Quakers were going to look past La Salle. In the regular season Moses Brown saw exactly what the Rams were capable of, when they executed to near perfection and trailed 2-0 at halftime before the Quakers woke up and put the game away.
With a state title-game appearance hanging in the balance, Moses Brown didn’t allow for a slow start. With Jane Belsito and Samantha Mocco owning the draw, the Quakers got the ball and did something with it.
La Salle’s defensive execution was fine – Moses Brown’s offensive play was just better. The Quakers don’t rely on one player to score goals, making the best player to shoot the one who’s open. Meena Brosco scored the first two goals and after La Salle’s Lily Peters scored, Mocco scored two in a 37-second span.
A three-goal lead grew to five in the final 20 seconds when Milan Byre scored, Mocco won the ensuing draw and the Quakers quickly worked it upfield, with Sophia Mocco scoring a goal.
“We kept on saying we were going to star the game and we weren’t going to take our time going into it,” Sophia Mocco said. “That was our main mission today – to play well and as a team.”
Moses Brown kept scoring, but didn’t need to. The Quakers got four in the second quarter – two more from Samantha Mocco, with Brosco and Sophia Mocco adding goals – to take a 10-1 lead into halftime. Belsito scored on a filthy behind-the-back shot 1:01 into the second, bringing the running clock situation into the game.
“The last game [against La Salle] was a tough one for us,” Lagor said. “I don’t really know what it was … we just didn’t have a great start and coming into this game, we knew that wasn’t our game and today is our game.”
Girls lacrosse is a game of runs, but Moses Brown’s defense never let La Salle go on one. The Quakers swarmed the Rams’ athletic offensive stars, with Lagor and All-Stater Goose Brousseau tormenting the attackers with an over-aggressive double team that created havoc and more than a few turnovers.
“It’s already engrained in us – we work together without having to tell each other what to do or where to be,” Lagor said. “… We know we can exploit teams pretty easily by putting hard pressure on.”
La Salle walked off the field with its heads held high. The Rams played and lost to MB in the last two state championship games so they knew what they were getting into on Wednesday.
The result wasn’t what La Salle wanted – but the effort it got in the game, and all season, was and is what truly defined the year.
“I’m so glad we had this team together and did quite good this year,” Peters said. “It just meant a lot to be here and finish with this team.
“They’re amazing. They deserve this win, but you really have to keep your head up and your coaches help us do that and we remember who we are.”
When the game ended, Moses Brown didn’t know who it would play. When word of East Greenwich’s win over Barrington reached the postgame feast, the Quakers were excited. It wasn’t because they wanted to play the Avengers over the Eagles; they knew a EG win meant they’d play Sunday instead of having a Saturday game against Barrington.
Moses Brown played East Greenwich on May 14 and came away with a 17-5 win. The Quakers don’t expect the same result. They don’t expect anything – except the type of effort they hope is good enough to win a title.
“We’re just concerned about playing as a team and playing our game,” Sophia Mocco said. “We always talk about no mater who we’re facing, if its an out-of-league game or in-league game, just playing our game and putting our best foot forward.”
“We know both teams are very good but we’ll play our game no matter what,” Lagor said. “No matter what team it is, we don’t change who it is or who it isn’t so either way we’ll go in with our play.”
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Score from La Salle at Moses Brown girls lacrosse Division I semifinal
