When: October 20, 2024
Where: Devens, MA

Event Summary
The girls’ lacrosse club season kicked off with New England’s top fall championship tournament, The New England Chill.

What a weekend to kick off REV22, the 22nd year of Revolution Lacrosse, at REVlax’s own event, The New England Chill.  The weather was perfect, the sun was out, foliage was at peak, the DJ tent was bumping, and the dance offs were legit!

Traditionally, The New England Chill is REVlax’s 2nd tournament of the fall, but with the Westside Tournament canceling this year, this was opening weekend!   Nine REVlax teams had winning records with three teams going undefeated and TWO teams winning the Championships!

Congratulations to the REV25 Team for winning the Championship and putting in a whooping 55 goals while only giving up nine goals on the day!

Congratulations also to the REV26 Black team for winning their Championship after battling a very strong Yellow Jackets team!
Though both undefeated, 27Black and 31Heart each missed the playoffs to the other undefeated team in their respective pools seeing they had one more allowed goal! What are the odds!?!

Something fun that the REVlax players loved was that after each game, a REVlaxer  was awarded the Game Pumpkin for outstanding play by the team and coaching staff.  And at the end of each day, the All-Tournament Pumpkin was awarded!

Team Summary

Record: 2-1-1
This is a very special group. We all enjoy coaching REV 27Blue and their improvement in the last two years has been something special to witness!  

This group came out hard today and tied a very solid Yellow Jackets team and then put the hurt on their next two opponents.  The objective has been to get better every time they step on the field and that was accomplished today, with the exception being the 4th game.  In this extra game, seeing a team dropped from the event and though this game didn’t count for championship play, 27Blue gave all they had, but was just out of gas and made too many mistakes which the opposing team capitalized on.

We need to give props where props are due: #25 Charlotte Willett who is battling shin splits looked amazing today on defense and in transition with limited minutes toward the end of the day. 
It’s official, we have a draw line!  Props to #32 Lane, #41 Zoe Jones and #53 Franklin who won the majority of draws at The CHILL.  As our players know, we run middie lines.  All REVlax middies are trained as draw specialists (as centers and circle players) and by summer, we will have three lines composed of nine players that can all win draws.  This enables the team to never have match up challenges and actually, presents a nightmare for their opponents.

And most impressive, #85 Emily Lao has dramatically improved her game within one year.  The effort on the wall has not gone unnoticed.  Emily hustles on the redefend, coming up with the 50/50 ground balls and is now even attacking the net!!!  Keep it up Emily!

Shout Outs/Pumpkin Winners
#70 Tess Neuefeind Lessig -Goalie 
As our founder and former goalie, Lukas can attest, being a REVlax goalie is HARD given our high expectations. It’s not an easy feat captaining the pipes and today, we are so happy to report that Tess had the best game of her REVlax career to date! Tess has been working on watching the ball, stepping and her save mechanics and today, she was on fire!  Making all the saves she should, and some should not.  Congratulations Tess!

2x! #54 Bella Bono – Midfield 
You know you are on fire when you win TWO Game Pumpkins!  But you will be surprised to hear that the day did not start out like this.

Bono was one of the first players on this team to “click in” over a year ago.  (Click In: To become serious with your focus and intention on developing your skill set and to push to your potential.)  In doing so, Bono separated herself from the pack and became the team’s leader.  As the summer progressed, the team relied on her more and more and Bono took on the burden of carrying the team.  In the natural progression of a committed team, other players started catching up to Bono this fall.  In today’s first game, Bono realized this reality.  Naturally, this realization is challenging.

After the game, we spoke on the reality of Bono’s situation, in that she no longer needs to carry the weight of the team as she now has a team around her!  Meaning, she can focus on her job of playing full speed and vibing, knowing that she has support!  And with that, it clicked, and Bono played lights out for the next set of games, garnishing her TWO Game Pumpkins!

This is a not easily done feat given the talent, effort and hustle of this team.  And we must share that we all witnessed the fastest spin dodge ever seen!  Bono was at the top of the 12 with the ball and attacked her defender at the 8 and right before contact, literally, SPUN around her and ended up on the doorstep of the crease and ripped a goal. 

We are all proud of you Bono for your honesty and bravery in showing and discussing your emotions and then going out there and playing to your potential!  We cannot wait for what is to come! 

Game Pumpkin and All Tournament Pumkin Winner: #30 Maddie Bogdon – Middie   

Yes, you read this correctly, Bogdon won a Game Pumpkin and the Tournament Pumpkin.  To receive just one pumpkin is an honor given the talent and depth of this team, but to win two, including the All-Tournament Pumpkin is a tremendous feat.  The amount of growth demonstrated by Bogdon has been phenomenal.  Starting off as a low attacker with REVlax, today Maddie took the tournament over as a middie!  Sprinting full speed, winning the 50/50 ground balls, transitioning the ball, scoring and playing breakdown defense.  It was such an amazing sight to witness.  And proving that size is second to the fight, Bogdon demonstrated amazing heart as she was one of the shorter players out on the field and yet played with the heart of a pit bull.  Your growth Bogdon is proof of what happens when you set your mind to something.  Keep it going and keep inspiring all of us!  Congratulations!