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Business as Usual North Andover rolls as Poirier nets No. 200

Tuesday, May, 31 By Kyle Gaudette

NORTH ANDOVER — This one was over after the first minute.

It only took North Andover's Abbie Karalis 17 seconds to net a goal, and the rout was on from there. The Knights led 3-0 only 73 seconds into the game, as they easily dispatched Revere 17-1 in the first round of the Divison 1 North girls lacrosse tournament. 

"They just came out strong and controlled the draws which I thought was key," said North Andover head coach Meredith Prior. "We prepared like we prepared for every other game. It's the playoffs, and if you lose this than your season is done and it doesn't matter who you're playing. So we just went out and tried to play our best."

Karalis led the Knights with four goals, and Courtney Karelas added three goals and two assists. Senior attacker Michelle Poirier scored twice, the first of which was goal number 200 in her career as a Knight. She joins Karalis with that milestone, who notched her 200th goal earlier in the season.

"It was a good milestone," said Poirier. "But it always feels good to do it with my teammates and just help the team."

"[Poirier's] a very hard worker and as all the heart you would ever want to get out of a player," said Prior. "It's awesome. Both her and Abbie have been working hard for four years and they're going to go on to do awesome things in college. It's good that Michelle got to do it on her home field."

Poirier's first goal of the half made it a 4-0 game for the Knights. Colleen Chittick scored shortly after off a beautiful feed from Karelas, and Olivia Pino scored her first of two goals near the end of the first half. Revere's Cindy Murphy scored on a free-shot midway through the first, but the Knights still built a 12-1 lead heading into the break.

North Andover also excelled on the defensive end during the first half, as they limited Revere to only one shot on starting goaltender Lauren Hiller. She was replaced in net in the second half by Annie Panos, who recorded four saves.  

North Andover entered the Division 1 North tournament as the No. 1 overall seed, and the two-time defending North champions. If their legacy is not already supplanted as a great dynasty, than a third consecutive regional championship would give the seniors such as Karalis, Chittick and Poirier a proper salute.

The team knows that it will need to take this tournament one game at a time, however, and that journey will continue Thursday in North Andover against the winner of Haverhill vs. Chelmsford.

"I think we've worked really hard during the regular season, so we expect to take that energy and work ethic and apply it to our next games," said Poirier. "We really want the State Championship. To win the North regional as a senior would be the best way to go out. So that would mean a lot to me, the rest of the seniors and the team."