Swampscott boys lax sees season end

HAMILTON – The Swampscott boys lacrosse team?s postseason run came to an end on Tuesday evening at the hands of second-seeded Hamilton-Wenham, who prevailed 7-5, advancing to the Division 3 North title game against either Newburyport or Pentucket.Things got off to a promising start for the No. 3 Big Blue, who led 2-0 after one quarter, before the hosts? offense finally found a solution to goaltender Max Cohen. The senior netminder played above and beyond the standards Swampscott coach Todd Pierce had set for him.?The game went as we thought it would,” he explained. “Hamilton-Wenham is a very good team and we knew they?d push back. They have an exceptional goalie, the best we?ve seen this season, and I?d put Max right up there with him.”Generals goalie and Cape Ann League MVP Grant Thompson finished with 9 saves, drawing the praises of first-year coach Josh Wedge.?Grant has been our backbone since day one,” Wedge said. “We occasionally tend to start games slowly like we did today and he?s always there to back us up.”Jason Dignan opened the scoring for the visitors just 10 seconds in, winning the opening faceoff cleanly before racing in on net untouched for his first of four goals. The junior tallied again at 10:17 before Cohen (12 saves) took over, making four saves in the period.Hamilton-Wenham picked up the pace in the ensuing period, showering the opposing goalie with five shots by the midway point. Cohen made spectacular stops on Brian Shaw at the 10:50 mark before picking a low laser from Joseph Lattanzi a minute and change later.With Griffin Hunt off for a push, the Generals finally broke through on their fourteenth shot, a low laser from Griffin Webber that snuck inside the left post. The equalizer came 52 ticks later when Jake Stahlman intercepted Cohen?s pass behind the net before finding Sam Petri in front.Matt Curran gave the hosts their first lead with 23.9 seconds remaining in the half.?Swampscott is known as a hard and physical team that goes out and gets after it and they showed that early,” said Wedge. “It took us a while to get going but those late goals in the second half really changed our complexion.”Dignan?s third goal tied the game at the 8:14 mark of the third quarter, but the Generals answered right back on a Webber shot in traffic. Petri made it 5-3 with a bounce shot from the high-right slot.Two quick strikes from the hosts to open the final period all but sealed the Big Blue?s fate.Curran doubled the lead at 11:30 before Shaw followed with the victors? final tally just over a minute later.Dignan cut the deficit to three with 1:52 remaining before a tally from Hunt with 10 seconds left preceded one last faceoff before the horn.?Things didn?t go how we had quite hoped for, but there was never any quit in us,” said Pierce.