Beverly lacrosse lanced by Longmeadow

BURLINGTON – After a dominant performance against Marblehead to capture the Division 2 North title, the Beverly Panthers were defeated by Longmeadow, 14-6, in the state semifinals at Burlington High School on Monday night.
Longmeadow (22-3), the top seed in the Central/West division, jumped out to a very quick lead, and did not look back. The Lancers netted two goals before Beverly was able to gain possession for the first time. The Panthers (17-7) applied pressure, but couldn?t get a shot off, and a couple of turnovers hurt Beverly. Longmeadow scored two more goals within 10 seconds of each other to take a commanding 4-0 lead with five minutes left in the first quarter.
Beverly coach John Pynchon wasn?t surprised by Longmeadow?s early offensive attack.
?We said, ?OK, there was their push. Now let?s regroup,?” Pynchon said. “But we couldn?t, and we ended up playing from behind the whole game.”
The Panthers got on the board with 16 seconds left in the quarter after a couple of close shots just missed the net. Chris Vallette, with an assist from Clinton Cabral, buried one to give the Panthers some life heading into the second quarter.
That bit of momentum did not last, though. Longmeadow again scored two goals within 10 seconds, taking a 6-1 lead. Ian Butler got one back for Beverly a minute later, but one more Lancer goal in the half extended Longmeadow?s lead to five.
Jordan Rawding started off the second half on a high note for the Panthers with the first of his two goals in the game. But Longmeadow scored three unanswered goals. Sam Abate, Hunter Spencer and Rawding each scored in the second half, but it wasn?t enough to catch up to Longmeadow, as the Lancers kept the pressure on until the very end.
?It wasn?t an effort thing. It was just execution,” said Pynchon. “We didn?t make the plays we needed to, and they did. Hats off to Longmeadow.”
One of the biggest weaknesses for the Panthers on Monday were faceoffs. In the first half, the Lancers gained possession after almost every faceoff, and twice marched down the field to score almost immediately.
?I think we could have played better,” said Pynchon. “We didn?t have an answer for some of their players, like (midfielder Max Stukalin), who dominated the faceoffs. We would win faceoffs, but lose the ball. In games like this, even if you lose, you want to play your best lacrosse, and I?m not sure we did that.”
Despite the loss, the Panthers are holding their heads high, coming within a game of the state finals a year after losing a group of strong seniors. The relatively young team was able to gain some valuable postseason experience, something that could benefit them in the coming seasons.
?It was a good experience,” Pynchon said. “We?re a pretty young team, and last year, we lost a lot of seniors. But we knew that the guys we had were good. I?m proud of them for making it back here. We had three junior defensemen who played every game, our goalie (sophomore Kevin Morency) was outstanding, and we have some young guys who didn?t even see time this year that will be big for us in the future. ”
The Panthers will lose seven seniors for next year, including Elias Crandell, midfielder Butler, attackmen Cabral and Vallette, defensemen Serge Jolicoeur, Brenden Boyle and Bryan Flaherty. But a number of players who were key contributors for the Panthers in 2015 will come back in 2016 more experienced, which is great news for the Beverly squad.
?We have a bright future. We?re going to get back here next year,” Pynchon said. “We need to try and get a little better against the bigger, better teams. We?ve got to rise to the occasion.”Katie Morrison may be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @KatieMo61.