By Janice Calvi-Ruimerman
(April 21, 2023) — After a three-game and one-scrimmage winning streak to open the 2023 season, the HK Cougars felt another loss. On April 20, 2023, the HK Girls Lacrosse team faced off with the Old Saybrook Rams at the Cougars’ home field in Higganum. The game quickly became a centurion’s legion as the Rams soldiered down the field to score three goals within the first five minutes.
The possession play was all Old Saybrook, as the Rams gained possession quickly off the draw, consistently boxing out HK. With a slight adjustment to the HK offense, Jenna Whitmer, Senior Captain, gained possession, passing quickly to fellow Senior Captain Audrey Wrinn, who took the ball down field to Sophomore Seanna (SeaSea) Ruimerman for the goal to put the Cougars on the board.
This invigorated the Saybrook offense while HK’s defense was no match for their unitarian, single scoring player with her 100-goal benchmark pending. With a large gap in scoring, Sophomore Seanna (SeaSea) Ruimerman executed a dramatic pass to Junior Samantha (Sammy) Ruimerman for the second goal, bringing the close of the first half to a 6-2 Old Saybrook lead.
The second half put pressure on the defense, as defenders Te’a Norman, Brigitte Battistoni, Peyton Tyler, Juliana (J-Gag) Gagliardi and sub defender, Julia Favalora began to trap and penetrate the Rams line. The Cougars mid-field and attack fell into play as Senior Captain Audrey Wrinn delivered a back of the net pass to fellow Senior Captain Sophie Ramino for the goal, followed by another goal by Sophie straight off the draw. The speed of Junior Samantha (Sammy) Ruimerman helped to keep the ball down field, while the passing and possession plays of Senior Captain Georgia Cancroft and Juniors Aly Campbell and Jamie DiNapoli helped to bring the ball into blue and gold territory. Two more goals came in off a “shovel shot” and “drop shot” by Sophomore Seanna (SeaSea) Ruimerman. And, with a final penalty shot, Sophomore Ava Ramino bounced a shot into goal to close out this game.
However, this was not enough to prevent the single scoring Ram who seemed to have Sophomore Goalie Gabrielle (Gabby) Williams and her defensive line’s number, resulting in the Cougars second loss of the season with a score of 8-14 Old Saybrook. Goals were scored by Senior Captain Sophie Ramino 3, Junior Samantha (Sammy) Ruimerman 1, Sophomore Seanna (SeaSea) Ruimerman 3 and Sophomore Ava Ramino 1. This game was a hard loss for this team and will surely motivate the need for speed, precision passing and accuracy in catching moving forward.
Nice try, girls, but remember, “ground balls win games.” Keep playing with your heart!
See the full season’s game schedule on HKHS Athletics website.
