The Dartmouth High girls lacrosse team is moving on to the Sweet 16 of the spring tournament after the Indians opened up the spring tournament Thursday with a 17-11 win over Groton-Dunstable.

“That was a lot of fun,” said first-year head coach Nicole Simas, who took over the post after Chris Treaca was relieved of his duties in mid April.

Groton-Dusntable opened the scoring within 30 seconds of the opening draw, with Dartmouth responding roughly 10 seconds after. The Crusaders would then jump to an early 3-1 lead, but the Indians would again bounce back and score three of the next four to tie things up.

Dartmouth would then take the lead following a goal from sophomore Grace Haskell.

“I try and work hard,” said Haskell, who finished the game with four goals.

After Haskell’s first goal, the Indians never trailed again — something Simas said was thanks to the team’s adapitibily so early on in the match.

“They’re just able to break down every goal and figure out what went wrong, and adjust,” she said. “It’s about bouncing back.”

A big reason behind that quick adjustment, she said, was due to the team’s chemistry.

“They all just play so well together,” the coach said. 

Senior Captain Sorelle Lawton, who also found the back of the net four times, agreed. She said with a roster of tight-knit players, it was easy to get into a rhythm.

“We knew if we could get into it, we could do it,” Lawton said.

It’s that cohesiveness Simas said she hopes to continue as the Indians prepare for the next round of play.

“If we’re not in this together, then we’re not going to be successful,” Simas said.

Sixth-seeded Dartmouth High will next host No. 11 Burlington in the Round of 16 at Memorial Stadium on Sunday at 11 a.m.