Kasey Molito with the ball during a May 4 game against Rockland. / Photo by: Sue Moss
Kasey Molito is now the Whitman-Hanson Regional High girls’ lacrosse program’s single-season saves leader.
Whitman-Hanson Regional High girls’ lacrosse senior goalie Kasey Molito has found her way into the school’s record book.
Molito entered last Friday’s bout at Silver Lake five saves shy of the program’s all-time single-season saves record of 213, a number set back in 2013, and she shattered that mark.
Molito turned away 15 shots with the record-breaker coming roughly 10 minutes into the opening half.
“I’m actually really proud,” Molito said of the accomplishment. “It’s something I’ve been aiming to work on, aiming to get.”
W-H head coach Dave Rowell recalled the first time he tested Molito, a then-sophomore, out in net. He was immediately impressed.
“I had her and then I had the returning sophomore in goal and right from the get-go I put them both in a scrimmage, they both played half,” he said. “Kasey had something ridiculous like 12 saves, having never played the position against Dartmouth, and the other girl probably had four, who had played a whole year.”
It was Molito’s fearlessness that caught Rowell’s eye right out of the gate.
“She went for the ball when a lot of first-time goalies move away from it, they don’t go towards it, she would go towards it and she would get banged up,” Rowell recalled. “She was confident — even with a brand-new huge stick — to throw it. She wasn’t afraid, she wasn’t timid.”
The stellar performance earned Molito the starting spot in net for the Panthers’ season opener, against North Quincy.
“I was terrified out of my mind because Rowell had just told me that I was going to be playing the whole game, which I was not expecting,” Molito recalled.
After a few balls began to bounce past her, Molitobegan to question herself.
“At first, I was very terrified because I didn’t realize how much of a high-scoring game it was, so when the score started running up, I was getting very nervous about my skill set and skill level,” Molito said.
Even after the game, a 12-10 Panthers victory, Molitohad no idea if she performed up to par. That was until Rowell soothed her fears.
“He was like, ‘You played really well,’” Molito said. “And I was very confused because I thought I did not do well at all, but he’s like, ‘No, it’s a high-scoring game, that’s what’s supposed to happen, so you did really well for your first time.’”
Molito earned league all-star status that season as the Panthers cracked the tournament, a feat they also accomplished the following season on the back of an epic late-game performance from Molito in a 10-9 win over Bridgewater-Raynham.
“Bridgewater-Raynham had beaten us 18-10, they were just a really good team so in all, we could have just laid back and said, ‘All right, we don’t make tourney this year,’” Rowell said.
“She had four saves at the end of that game that were huge all in the end to let us be in the position to score down the other end and go to overtime. She made four huge saves and it was all her — it was just her and one player. She made four huge saves and good transition,we were down three at one point. It was goal, goal, goal to tie it and then her job was done.”
Molito has revived some of that magic this season, especially as of late. During W-H’s recent four-game winning streak, Molito had 16 saves against Abington (12-5 win May 14), 13 saves against Quincy (11-5 win May 16), 19 saves against North Quincy (11-10 win May 17) and seven saves against East Bridgewater (17-4 win May 23).
Not only is Molito W-H’s starting netminder, butRowell considers her much more than that. Hence why she’s a captain this season.
“She’s out there yelling to everyone,” Rowell said. “I told them, ‘She’s the secondary coach out there cause she’s facing what’s happening.’ Everyone else is back looking at a girl, looking at the ball, she sees everything so she’s in command. She yells, ‘Slide left, crash right, cutter.’”
Molito acknowledged she doesn’t hold back in goal, but that’s what she loves the most about playing back there.
“I yell a lot,” Molito said with a laugh. “I just like the position because it’s kind of like no other position cause everyone kind of looks at you to be the one to stop it, but you realize you get to watch everybody and just figure out how we can work together as a team to make sure the shot doesn’t happen and how to get the goals themselves.”
As for goals, Molito, who is committed to play lacrosse at Manhattanville College, has checked most of her’soff.
“I’ve kind of achieved everything that I’ve wanted to do,” Molito said.