Saugus lax falls to Georgetown

SAUGUS – The Saugus boys lacrosse team was utterly overwhelmed in the opening 12 minutes of its eventual 19-3 loss to Georgetown on Tuesday afternoon at Stackpole Field.The visitors stormed out of the gates for 10 first-quarter goals before tacking on five more to go into the half up 15-1.The Sachems were much improved in the latter stages of their seventh consecutive defeat to open the season, but coach Rich Mazzei knows his team?s effort early in games needs drastic changes.?It?s really been the story of our season,” Mazzei said of his team?s lackluster starts. “We always play much harder in the second half, so I?m not sure what the issue is. Maybe it?s nerves or our youth, but we need to start playing with heart from the first whistle.”Georgetown began its onslaught with two goals from Mike Gochakowski (6 total) in a span of 2:39. Jared Warren (8 goals) followed with tallies on four consecutive shots, the last at 6:15 while falling to the ground.Two more goals from the former and a fifth from the latter would sandwich the Royals? ninth tally, from Zack Switzer with two minutes remaining.The tandem of Gochakowski and Warren combined for all five of the visitors? goals in the second period.Saugus? lone tally of the opening 24 minutes came from Brandon Rolli, who converted from the low slot with 3:54 remaining in the half.If there was a bright spot for the Sachems amongst the chaos, it was the play of Ben Martin, who set the tone physically for both sides.The midfielder had several bone-crunching hits that drew praise from his coach.?I thought he had a great game and played with a lot of energy the whole way,” said Mazzei.Royals coach Andrew Boepple played his reserves for the majority of the second half, which featured two goals in each quarter.Shawn Manion, Nick DePasquale, Tom Lacasse and John Micue added solo tallies for Georgetown, who totaled four shots in each frame.?This was certainly a nice way to pick up our first win,” said Boepple, whose team improved to 1-7. “We moved the ball well today and our offense really clicked. Hopefully we can keep moving forward from here.”The Sachems scored once in each period to close out the game, the first from Joe Russo, who converted after a long run downfield while short-handed.Rolli opened the fourth quarter with a bounce shot that beat goaltender Nick Bovio, who came on in relief of starter Scott Conti, who made eight saves.Dan Sullivan finished with seven saves for Saugus.