By ALEX SPONSELLER

The No. 3 Toll Gate girls lacrosse team fell to No 2. Burrillville 15-9 in the Division II Semifinals on Tuesday night on the road.

The two clubs were tied 2-2 with just over nine minutes remaining in the first half. However, the Broncos would go on a 5-0 run to take a 7-2 lead into the break. Toll Gate came out firing in the second half and quickly pieced together a 3-0 run to make it 7-5 early in the period, but the Broncos offense would take off again down the stretch to collect the win.

“We just came up a little bit short. I was happy with how the girls played, they did a bunch of things well, but (Burrillville) just played better than us and that happens sometimes in sports. They did everything I asked,” said Toll Gate coach Jim Areson.

Adeline Areson led the Titans with six goals while Maddie Clark added two and Kate Pale one. Freshman goalie Mary McNulty, who was filling in for starter Jill Costello, recorded 10 saves in the cage.

After reaching the Division III finals last season, the Titans were bumped up to Division II this year and fit right in, going 9-2 in the regular season and making the semis.

“It was a great season. We stepped up to Division II and made it to the semis, going into the season, even I didn’t think that we would do that. It was a phenomenal season and they played well,” Jim Areson said.

The Titans will be returning nearly their entire roster next season as they only graduate three seniors and are made up of primarily juniors and sophomores. After these past two playoff runs, Jim Areson hopes that the experience will pay dividends moving forward.

“We’re still actually pretty young and are only graduating three seniors, so this is a great experience for them and next year I think each of them will be even better,” Jim Areson said.

Clark, Costello and Emma Vollucci will be graduating in a few weeks, and will be leaving big holes in the Toll Gate roster.

“Maddie has been a four-year starter and has played in two finals and is going to play in college. Jill had a record of 21-4 and had never played goalie before. Emma worked hard, really stepped up and made some big contributions. The three of them are just quality people; we’re going to miss them,” Jim Areson said. “Hopefully we have some people to step up and fill those shoes. The expectations will be high next year.”