Boston Guard Win Inaugural WLL Championship Series

SPRINGFIELD, Va. — Courtney Taylor was on the field before the first draw of the inaugural Women’s Lacrosse League Championship Series title game. She thought about the opportunity in front of her and her teammates, to be the first champion crowned in league history, and it gave her chills.

Thought turned into reality when eight different goal scorers, including Cassidy Weeks, who produced a team-high seven points, led the Boston Guard to the first-ever WLL Championship Series title with a 22-17 victory over the New York Charging.

“It means so much to our sport,” Taylor said. “We’re so happy to win, but it means so much more when we won seeing all the fans come around us. It really is so inspiring. Being able to see the future generation, they can look up to us and know that can be them one day.”

Coming into the championship game, Boston earned the first seed and a bye through the semifinals. In the first quarter, the Guard took advantage of Sunday’s respite, getting off to a fast start. Dempsey Arsenault opened the scoring eight seconds into the contest, and the Guard scored five of the first six goals with five different scorers. 

“We talked about it all week long. We knew we wanted to throw the first punch. It was a goal of ours. We have been working on, with our coaches, how we do that,” Charlotte North said. “Cassidy Weeks and Dempsey Arsenault are two of the best midfielders that have ever existed in our game. Bye or no bye, they could have played at any point of any day, and they could have run up and down the field for way longer than 32 minutes. We have the utmost confidence in them. To see Dempsey come out like that and throw the first punch was inspiring.”

A punch it was. A gut punch.

“It’s a very unforgiving game,” New York Charging captain Izzy Scane said. “If you let up for a second, they can score a goal.”

Despite the slow start, New York continued to believe it had a chance, and the offense started coming together by the end of the first quarter. New York scored the final goal of the period as well as three of the next five goals in the second quarter.

“The lead, at any point, you never feel comfortable. We’ve been on the other side. Yesterday [in the semifinals], I never felt like, ‘Oh my God, we’re going to win this game,’” New York head coach Colleen Magarity said. “It just can swing so fast, which is exciting, which makes it an awesome sport to watch.”

As the Charging made a push in the second quarter, Boston always had an answer. The Guard led 9-7 at halftime.

The goal trading continued in the third quarter until the final 97 seconds, when Boston scored three consecutive goals to end the quarter and extend the lead to 16-11.

Guard goalie Rachel Hall out-dueled Charging goalie Madison Doucette, making 10 saves to Doucette’s eight, and North gave a lot of credit to the team’s defense. It became an important part of the team’s identity.

“Our defense was our grounding force all day. In huddles, in low moments when [New York] would throw a punch, they weathered the storm for us, and they told us they had our back,” North said. “The communication was incredible throughout those moments in the second and third quarter. I think that’s why we were able to respond in those moments and come together.”

New York made a surge in the fourth quarter when Scane, Meg Carney and Kendall Halpern all scored in a two-minute span, but North responded 20 seconds later. Then Madison Ahern scored 50 seconds after that.

The Charging were led by Scane, who had seven points on a team-high six goals and one assist. Emily Hawryschuk scored two goals, giving her 19 for the tournament. She earned the tournament’s Golden Stick Award, which is given the player with the most scoring points.

Magarity said when the team won games, they caused more turnovers, made more saves and picked up more ground balls, none of which happened in the championship game.

“I also just think the pace and luck of the way the ball bounces, sometimes, it’s almost in your stick, you almost have it, but they check it and they score,” she said. “In field lacrosse, that doesn’t convert to a quick goal. It quickly swings so fast.”

At the postgame press conference, North, Taylor and Andie Aldave sat behind microphones alongside head coach Laurie DeLuca with pieces of net draped around their shoulders and the championship trophy sitting in front of them.

Aldave had her arms around North and Taylor. The three had competed against each other numerous times in college, including in the 2021 NCAA tournament semifinals — which Boston College, North and Taylor won — and the 2022 NCAA championship — the most watched women’s lacrosse game of all time, won by North Carolina and Aldave.

After countless battles, Aldava reflected on how nice it was to be able to win together for a change.

“I’ve gone against these two my whole life,” she said. “Today, we kept harping on we get to attack the other team together for the first time. I know being on their team is pretty freaking awesome.”