BRISTOL — The Bristol Central Rams girls lacrosse team found a way to get into the win column Monday evening after defeating Wolcott to earn their first victory of the season.
The Bristol Central Rams have started the season off with three consecutive losses to Bristol Eastern, Avon and Wethersfield. However, despite the team’s youth showing up at times the Rams managed to pull it together to defeat Wolcott 7-5.
Bristol Central coach Kyle Phelan said it’s encouraging for the team to pull out a win despite not playing their best.
“I think our defense really stepped up,” Phelan said. “It was a low scoring game. It was 2-2 at the half, 3-3 at the end of the third. Our goalie and our defense really kind of kept us in that game when our offense was struggling and in the fourth quarter, we connected on a couple passes and set plays that got us a couple goals and the defense was able to hold on down the stretch.”
He said he hopes their first victory will carry them forward now that they’re able to see what they’re capable of.
“I'm hoping so. It wasn't as crisp of a game as we wanted. We were kind of a little loose with the ball and not connecting on some passes that we normally would be,” he said. “I think the girls seeing that we didn't play a great game, but still came away with the win shows that there's more to it than what we've shown this season.”
Phelan said there’s something to be said about not playing, but still coming away with the win.
One player in particular that helped lead Bristol Central to victory was sophomore Magdalyn Palamar. Phelan said in just her second lacrosse season Palamar was the difference maker against Wolcott.
“In my mind, she was the reason that we came away with that win,” he said. “We moved her around a little bit and she really stepped up and I'm really hoping that kind of shows other kids that anybody can be one of the reasons you win a game. It doesn't have to be our normal, reliable lacrosse players. It could be anybody. Maggie is a superstar soccer player who's becoming a really good lacrosse player. I really hope it shows that the work ethic is going to really pay off for you in the long run.”
The Bristol Central Rams return to the field Friday to take on the Berlin Redcoats on the road at 5:30 p.m. Berlin is coming off a 16-15 victory over the Bristol Eastern Lancers.
The Bristol boys lacrosse co-op also managed to get in the win column Monday evening after Bristol defeated Rocky Hill in a pretty handily fashion. Bristol, who recently came off three successful performances against St. Paul, Windsor and Wethersfield, got right back to business on Monday.
Bristol quickly established a 7-1 lead to close out the first quarter after several goals from Brayden Dwyer, Jaydon Glasper and Ian Reardon. In the second quarter, Brady Bell scored a goal with 6:05 left in the quarter to push the score to 14-1.
Dylan Brown, assisted by Gavin Damboise, scored the final goal of the quarter to give Bristol a 15-1 lead heading into halftime.
Bristol returns to the field on the road on Thursday at Middletown at 3:45 p.m. Bristol previously beat Middletown to open the season 18-3. Middletown is currently 2-4.
