'Best feeling in the world': Norwell girls lacrosse captures Div. 4 title from Cohasset
WELLESLEY — When Holly Panttila boarded the bus and rode home from Tsongas Center at UMass-Lowell in March, she knew she only had one more sports season to contend for a state championship.
Basketball season had just ended. Panttila and the Clippers lost in the title game for the second year in a row, right on the heels of her All-Scholastic season as a defender on the Norwell High girls soccer team that lost in the Division 3 Final Four in November.
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After the hour-long commute home, Panttila, the reigning South Shore League Player of the Year in lacrosse, got off the bus with an additional, pent-up fire within her to conclude this spring season on a high note. One last time.
On Thursday, the soon-to-be Vanderbilt University student was not to be denied.
Panttila scored three goals as the Norwell High girls lacrosse team defeated archrival and defending champion Cohasset, 9-8, to capture the Division 4 state title at Babson College. The fourth-ranked Clippers (19-3) upset the bracket's top seed (21-3).
'We were meant to win this game," Panttila said. "I was holding off for this one because this is the big one against Cohasset. I wouldn't want to have won any other game.'
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Senior Charlise Cox netted the deciding goal with 2:42 remaining, and senior goalie Charlotte Pithie made two clutch saves down the stretch, including the game-ending denial with 34 seconds left.
During a timeout called inside the final two minutes, Panttila turned to assistant coach Keely Gengo and insisted that the narrow lead would sustain.
'She was just out for it," first-year coach Laura Callahan said of Panttila, who corralled 3 draw controls and 3 takeaways in the win. "She was just like, 'We got this. I know we got this.''
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'I got emotional," said Panttila. "I knew in my head that we were winning this game. We went on the field and there were a couple scares, but I knew we'd pull it out. I'm just so, so thrilled.'
The win avenges Norwell's Final Four defeat to Cohasset last spring, as well as the lone regular-season meeting that the Skippers claimed in overtime in ex-Norwell coach Kara Connerty's return to the Clippers' home turf on May 19.
Holly Panttila can't hold in her emotions as she hugs a teammate. The Norwell High girls lacrosse team celebrates defeated rival Cohasset, 9-8, in the MIAA Division 4 state championship at Babson College in Wellesley on Thursday, June 12, 2025.
Connerty, who led five state-championship teams at her alma mater, resigned from coaching at Norwell last summer after 13 years and filled Cohasset's coaching vacancy in February.
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'Cohasset is a great team so we knew we had to put everything on the line to win," said Cox. "From the first whistle, we knew we wanted this so bad. We've waited for this. Every draw control, we knew we had to get it.'
The two teams traded goals back-and-forth for much of Thursday's championship game. Norwell held the biggest lead, 5-3, with 6:23 left in the third quarter following a goal by senior captain Caroline Burtch, who next year will play at Babson.
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Cohasset's Avery Regan (2:16) and Molly Campbell (1:43) struck within seconds of each other to even things entering the fourth quarter.
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Cox, who will play at a Florida State (a first-year Division 1 start-up) next year, sliced through the Cohasset defense and fired a shot in the crease to unsettle the tie inside the final three minutes of play. It was her only goal of the game.
'Everything was moving so fast," Panttila said. "All of sudden I saw her come across the crease and the ball was in the net. I expect nothing less from Charlise. She's been a crucial player all year and she's been peaking in the tournament, having so much fun, playing loose and playing so well. We're so happy to have her.'
Grasping on to the 9-8 lead down the stretch, Pithie made a save off a Cohasset free position with 1:20 left, and then another later in the Skippers' possession.
'Charlotte Pithie is a beast," Cox said. "I love her so much. She's literally a brick wall. Without her, this team wouldn't be where we are today.'
The Norwell High girls lacrosse team celebrates defeated rival Cohasset, 9-8, in the MIAA Division 4 state championship at Babson College in Wellesley on Thursday, June 12, 2025.
'I had to get the job done and I'm so happy it's done," said Pithie, who will play at Bryant University next year. "We did it. I'm so proud of my team, especially with a new coach coaching us. I'm so proud of for (Callahan) and our coaching staff. I'm so proud I did this with all of my best friends in my senior year. It feels unreal.'
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The state championship win is Norwell's first since 2018. The Clippers appeared in the Division 3 final in 2023, but lost to Newburyport, 13-10, when members of this senior class were sophomores playing for Connerty.
'Obviously I'm so emotional. I'm just so proud of these girls,' said Callahan, who previously served as an assistant coach at Notre Dame Academy. 'I had to get used to them. They had to get used to me. I've never been a head coach; I was worried about making mistakes. And these girls won today because they bought into the system and they played as a team. They earned this.'
Norwell (19-3) sends eight seniors off with championship hardware: Panttila, Cox, Pithie, Burtch, attack Margot Bonnevie, attack Audrey Coch, defender Marley Bruce and defender Lainey Burns.
'This is the best feeling in the world," Cox said. "I couldn't imagine a better ending. I couldn't have done it without my team. This team has been my rock throughout my whole high school career. This is the best way I could ever end it.'
This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Norwell girls lacrosse defeats Cohasset to win state championship
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