Sacred Heart Greenwich’s Varsity A lacrosse team’s motto this season is ‘want it more,’ and through the first three games of the season, the Tigers have, indeed, wanted it more in the closing minutes of their tight matchups.

Trailing by two goals with less than one minute remaining against a tough Noble and Greenough School squad, Sacred Heart rallied with two quick tallies to force overtime. Four tense overtime sessions followed and with 1 minute, 40 seconds remaining in OT No. 4, senior Daphne Fallon ended the drama.

Fallon’s goal off an assist from freshman Peyla Carcaterra lifted Sacred Heart to a dramatic come-from-behind 8-7 win over visiting Noble and Greenough School on March 27. The victory moved the Tigers’ record to 2–0, which they improved to 3-0 when they topped William Penn Charter School at on March 29, 11-6.

“Our motto this year is want it more and just try to dig deep into those moments whether we’re down, or whether we’re up,” said Fallon, a senior midfielder/captain. “We’re just trying to find a way to get a win and be successful on the field in those moments.”

Carcaterra, a freshman attack, registered two goals and two assists, Fallon tallied twice, senior midfielder/captain Charlie Bacigalupo had two goals and junior attack Georgia Lillis and senior attack Ainsley Clough added one goal apiece in the Tigers’ home-opening triumph versus Noble and Greenough.

“It was so fun to play in this game and I’m so proud of the team,” Bacigalupo said of the Tigers’ one-goal victory over Noble. “Obviously, we have a lot to learn throughout the season, but we really stepped up with two goals in the last 50 seconds and the overtime goal.”

“The team really wanted it more and we put everything out there,” Bacigalupo continued. “It was really fun to watch and play.”

On the game winning goal, Fallon caught a pass from Carcaterra in traffic and snapped a shot past Noble and Greenough’s goalie, giving the Tigers the hard-fought four-overtime victory.

“It was exciting, we’re proud of the girls,” Sacred Heart Greenwich Varsity A head coach Jackie Goldmann said. “When we were down by two in the last 50 seconds of the game, we called a timeout. For them to execute and come out with the win – we’re so proud of them.”

Goldmann coaches the team along with assistant coaches Sharon Robinson and Stephanie Serino. SHG is coming off a 2024 season in which it registered a record of 15-3 and won the 2024 Prep Cup Tournament. The Tigers concluded their 2024 campaign ranked No. 19 in the USA Lacrosse High School Girls National 25 Rankings.

A number of outstanding, key contributors graduated from last season’s successful squad, three of whom were captains Olivia Leahy, Kaitlin Robinson and Payton Sfreddo. Leahy is playing lacrosse at Stanford University, Robinson is on the lacrosse team at Duke University and Sfreddo is competing at the University of Virginia. This year’s Tigers squad also has a plenty of talent as Goldmann noted.

“I think people underestimated what this team could do after we graduated the class we graduated last year – they are all on to the next level doing amazing things,” Goldmann said. “But we have very talented younger players who have been on the team, but they haven’t had as much game experience. I think the first two games of the season it showed that although we graduated a very strong class, we’re not going anywhere. We are very skilled top to bottom.”

After Noble and Greenough took a 7-4 advantage on SHG by scoring a goal with 11:18 remaining in fourth quarter, Fallon drew the hosts to within 7-5 when she tallied off a pass from sophomore midfielder Maggie Sweeney at the 6:10 mark of the final quarter.

A Sacred Heart goal with just 37 seconds to go in the fourth quarter cut Nobles’ lead to 7-6, then with only three seconds remaining in regulation, the Tigers tallied the equalizer, making it 7-7.

“Our motto is ‘want it more,’ so this is an awesome way to start it out, because in overtime it’s about wanting it more,” SHG senior defender/captain Maddy Hartnett said.

Sacred Heart also overcame a deficit in earning a win over IMG Academy on March 19. The Tigers topped Willian Penn Charter School on March 29, 11-6.

“We have a very young team, we lost amazing seniors last year, so one of our main goals is to work together and grow a connection together,” said Bacigalupo, who will take her lacrosse skills to Notre Dame next season.

Charley’s older sister, Maggie Bacigalupo was another senior that graduated from last season’s squad. Maggie is playing lacrosse at Princeton University.

“Another one of our goals is to play hard every single game,” Charley Bacigalupo said. “We were down 6-2 last game (against IMG) and won and came back this game.”

Junior Addy Flinchbaugh and sophomore Olivia Franco shared the goaltending duties in the triumph against Noble and Greenough. Flinchbaugh made five saves in the first half, then Franco stopped five shots in the second half and overtime.

Among some of the athletes that solidifies the defense along with Hartnett are senior Morgan Sfreddo, sophomore Addy Callaway, junior Casey Smith, junior Mackenna Kelly and freshman Torin Witck.

“I play defense, so it’s about being a part of the four that are on defense with me,” said Hartnett, who will play lacrosse at Furman University next season. “It’s really important to communicate, we’ve been doing that in practice and I think it showed in the game. They (Noble and Greenough) have very good 1-v-1 drives, so preparing in practice helped us out.”

Bacigalupo, Fallon, Sweeney, Lillis, junior Ryan Hodge are among some of the midfielders that should spark the Tigers midfield, while Carcaterra and Clough will be looked upon to for production at attack.

Sasha Mollett, Lily Sullivan and Gigi Dimitri are freshmen on the Tigers, Emma Matthews and Elim Eaton are sophomores and Audrey Bakker is a junior.

Coming back from a two-goal deficit in the final minute of the fourth quarter, before prevailing in the fourth overtime session was an impressive early season sign for Sacred Heart Greenwich.

“It was stressful, but it was so fun to be able to be in that moment and feel that pressure and not give up at the end of the fourth quarter,” Bacigalupo said following the Tigers’ triumph against Noble and Greenough. “We lost against them last year by two, so this was a great redemption win.”

Goldmann was especially pleased with how composed, focused and disciplined the team was during the final minutes of the fourth quarter and throughout the overtime periods against Noble and Greenough.

“We knew this was going to be a hard game,” the Tigers’ head coach noted. “They’ve a very tough team, they’re aggressive, they’re very well coached. So, we had to come out and never give up. We said whoever was going to be the most disciplined team of the day would be the winner and I do feel like we played as disciplined as we could at the end of the game.”

Said Fallon: “Using our grit and staying in it the whole time – never getting down on ourselves even if we made mistakes, knowing we can come back and get the win is an incredible feeling.”

Sacred Heart is back in action today (March 31) against host School of the Holy Child in Rye, N.Y. The Tigers will visit Greenwich High School in a scrimmage game on Wednesday (April 2), then are scheduled to host Oak Knoll School on April 5.

Sacred Heart’s seniors, who have experienced great success with the squad in past seasons, are aiming to make this spring another season to remember.

“This program is so unbelievable,” said Fallon, who will play lacrosse at Georgetown next season. “It’s such a family and it’s so amazing to be supported by everyone. It’s such a good example of hard work and what it takes to be a good team and what it takes to be good leaders.”

Photos by David Fierro: The Sacred Heart Greenwich varsity lacrosse team before its home game vs. Noble and Greenough School on March 27, 2025.