By Tim Mastro

WILMINGTON — Saying goodbye at the end of a season is never easy.

But this edition of the Dover High girls’ lacrosse team will be remembered for a long time.

The best season in Senator history came to a close as they fell 18-16 at No. 4 seed Tower Hill School on Saturday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the DIAA state tournament. Tower Hill (13-2) advanced to play the winner of Saturday's late game, Cape Henlopen-Wilmington Charter, on Tuesday at a time and location to be determined.

Dover, who was the tournament’s fifth seed, finished the year with a record of 13-4 — the program’s highest win total of all-time. The Senators also made history by winning their first state tournament game, beating Caesar Rodney in the first round last week to make it to Saturday’s contest.

“The legacy they left is if you play together you can accomplish anything,” Dover coach Molly Phillips said. “The senior class is special. They accomplished a lot individually and as a team. They came together at the beginning of the season and said their goal was to win our first playoff game. Anything after was just icing on the cake.”

Dover was paced by senior Superia Clark and sophomore Ashtyn Torbert who each netted six goals. Senior Kyleigh Dill added four goals of her own. Both Clark and Dill will continue their lacrosse careers next year with Clark headed to Syracuse University and Dill set to play at Eastern Michigan University.

Tower Hill also received a pair of six-goal performances from seniors Bella Gattuso and Lucy Nance. Bea Nance and Ava Svindland both tallied two goals while Campbell Zehner and Annabel Hehir had one goal apiece.

Dover led 6-2 with 12:08 left in the first half before the Hillers wrestled away control of the game by scoring six unanswered goals. The Senators rallied in the second half, reducing the deficit to just one goal on four separate occasions but could not find an equalizer.

“We hung with them, it was two evenly-matched teams,” Phillips said. “Our girls rose to the occasion and hung with them the whole time. I’m proud of them and always proud to be a Senator.”

“We use it as a life lesson, it’s not just about lacrosse, it’s about uniting as a team,” Phillips added. “This senior class went through a lot, not having a great season as freshmen and then losing a season the next year with COVID. They came back last year ready to accomplish some things. Although we didn’t win today, we accomplished a lot.”