Dominant North wins Agganis Men’s Lacrosse Classic

LYNN – For the second consecutive season, 11 was the lucky number for the winning team in the Agganis Men’s Lacrosse Classic. The North improved to 2-0 in the game’s short history, with a thoroughly dominant 11-6 victory on Tuesday night at Manning Field.With heavy rains a possibility, the game started prematurely and ended basically in the same context. The North jumped out to a 5-0 lead after one quarter of play behind stellar play from Chelmsford’s Connor Brimley and Peabody’s Keifer Heckman.Brimley scored just 57 seconds in off a rip to the top left corner from the same side. A minute later, he would tally again on a falling shot from the slot, and the rout was on. Brimley’s hat trick would be sandwiched in between two tallies from Heckman, each assisted by the former.”Those two were unbelievable together out there from the start,” said North coach Chuck Campobasso of the dynamic duo. “They met today, shook hands and went and preformed like they knew each other already.”The second quarter didn’t pan out much better for the South as two Ryan Shipp (Beverly) goals and a long snipe from Reading’s Eric O’Brien overshadowed the South’s lone tally. After Shipp’s first, Nicholas Pino (North Andover) cut the deficit to 6-1 on a strong individual effort in front of the net.After a great first half from North goalie Tighe Van Lenten (Masconomet), who stopped four shots, the goaltending really tightened up for both squads in the second. Reading’s Matt Comerford stopped nine shots while counterpart D.J. Smith of Billerica stopped five shots to secure the South MVP award.”The goaltending was great tonight,” said Campobasso. “The defenses weren’t really in sync so the goalies were kind of hung out to dry, but I thought Smith and Comerford in particular looked great tonight. They really changed the game around.”Lacrosse however, especially in an all-star game atmosphere, is noted for the offense and there certainly was plenty in the second half.The teams would alternate on goals in the third quarter; Brimley would tack on his fourth at the 13:30 mark before Brian Priem (Wilmington) tallied at 5:00. Swampscott’s Kevin Marescalchi scored from a crowd in front before the South’s Keenan Beraldi (Shawsheen) scored on a nice bounce shot to get the score to 10-3.The South finally picked up the pace in the final quarter, outscoring the victors 3-1 to make the score respectable. Pino got his second of the night in between goals from Wakefield’s Alec Brown and Shea Dolye’s (Danvers) garbage time goal with 13 seconds remaining. The North’s final goal came at 8:52 from the stick of Salem’s Chad Coelho.A win surely felt good for Campobasso, but results aside he was just happy for the opportunity to coach in such a meaningful game.”It’s a great thrill to be selected and see these young men play together and create friendships,” he explained. “They’ll think back years down the road to this game and remember each other, which is great. Lacrosse is really a brotherhood.”Heckman, playing in his last high school level game, was in agreement with his coach about what really mattered.”This game is one last time to play with some of your buddies and some new guys and just have some fun; it’s not about winning or losing,” he said.