The Dartmouth High girls’ lacrosse team’s bid for a state championship came to an end in the first round of the Div. 1 South tournament on June 5.

It was a tale of two halves for the Indians, as the team entered the home game and quickly commanded what appeared to be a dominating lead. The Indians headed into the half up 7-3.

“You’re thinking 7-3, okay, good momentum,” said Head Coach Chris Tresca about what happened up until that point.

But the Indians’ luck changed in the opening minute of the second half, when Silver Lake scored three goals following an Indian penalty, chipping away at the lead and bringing the score to 7-6.

The Lakers took the lead midway though the second half, but the Indians responded with a goal with 10:00 remaining to tie it again at 9-9. A goal by each team again led to a tie with minutes remaining, but the Lakers broke through on a penalty shot to win the game 11-10.

“It’s not that we just stopped competing, I just think we had a lot of wasted energy,” Tresca said. “That’s a phrase I use a lot where the offense will kind of scramble around, wasting their energy, not really getting quality shots on the net.”

Tresca did compliment his team’s defense, which he noted excelled throughout the entire game, especially a nearly 15-minute scoreless period in the second half.

The loss brings the team’s record to 12-6. Tresca noted that despite the loss, the team’s journey to its first postseason qualification in two years was positive. He has a crop of young teammates, with only three seniors leaving.

“I’m super proud of this season,” Tresca said. “It’s a super young team. I only have three seniors. We have a lot coming back. It was good exposure and this is a quality game and quality team.”

He said the season was filled with positive accomplishments, including securing the 10 game postseason qualification early in the season, sharing the Old Colony League title with Bridgewater-Raynham, and hosting home games.