MANCHESTER-BY-THE-SEA — The Marblehead girls lacrosse team (0-1) opened its season with a trip to Manchester-Essex. Although there were positives to take for Marblehead, the Hornets got the win 14-6. 

The Hornets got out to a quick 6-0 lead (4-0 after the first quarter) before Marblehead’s Ramona Gillett scored with 5:59 left in the second quarter. Gillett got the ball and spun past two Hornets defenders before firing off a shot that got past the Manchester-Essex goalie. 

The teams went into halftime with the Magicians trailing 6-1. When Marblehead came out in the third quarter its offense started to click. 

“It’s about building confidence. I think that was the one piece we struggled with last year,” Madden said. “We have 27 girls on the roster this year. We have a strong bench this year with a lot of depth. We just need to find our groove and be able to put the ball in the back of the net. We showed that today. We’re getting closer.” 

First, it was freshman Kathryn Commoss who scored quickly in the third quarter to cut the lead to four. Then the Magicians scored two more within a minute from Gretchen Smith and Gillett to get within two (6-4). 

Unfortunately, the Hornets responded with a run of their own, scoring seven unanswered to take a 13-4 lead with 9:02 left in the fourth quarter. The Magicians scored two more goals in the final quarter from Caroline Scroope and Commoss.  

“It’s game one and there’s so much room for improvement and we’re here to improve,” Madden said. “We have a young team who wants to be here and wants to improve and are looking forward to getting to practice tomorrow.” 

The Magicians are a young team and two freshmen drew praise from Madden after the game. 

“Kathryn Commoss did a great job today. For her first game on a varsity field she really stepped up,” Madden said. “She stepped onto the circle when we changed things up by putting five back on defense and moved her to the circle. It gave us a good flow with our middies.” 

Goalie Molly Bullard made 12 saves in the game and made it difficult for the Hornets to get past her. 

“Our freshman goalie did an outstanding job. Having a freshman goalie in there going against 18-year-olds who are going to play in college and she steps in and she’s ready to take it on,” Madden said. “She was outstanding today.” 

The Magicians will look to pick up their first win of the season on Monday when they travel to Beverly for a 4:30 p.m. game.