ITEM PHOTO: KATIE MORRISON
Swampscott’s Nick Kersten tries to elude a North Reading midfielder during a Division 3 North tournament game on Wednesday.
By KATIE MORRISON
NORTH READING — Swampscott boys lacrosse coach Todd Pierce knew that North Reading would be a tough challenge for his young team. Having already lost to the Hornets in the regular season, it would take close to a perfect game for the Big Blue to slip past North Reading in the first round of the Division 3 North tournament.
A fast start by the No. 8 Hornets took the air out of the No. 9 Blue, as they fell to North Reading, 13-3, Wednesday afternoon.
Within two minutes, North Reading had already jumped out to a 2-0 lead. They’d make it 6-0 before the end of the first quarter. Swampscott had trouble maintaining possession the entire quarter.
“Our game plan coming in was to try and possess the ball, because if we were on offense, they couldn’t be,” said Pierce. “(The quick goals) went against our game plan. So we got rattled. We’re a young team. Five seniors and at any time, only two of them are out on the field. We kind of reverted to being a very young team. Hopefully we’ll learn, grow and come back next year.”
The Big Blue had their best chance of the first half when, with 3:30 left in the second, Brendan Laundry made a nice snag to keep a loose ball inbounds. He scooped it up and sent it over to Nick Kersten, whose quick shot went just over the crossbar.
North Reading scored three quick goals in the last 2 1/2 minutes of the second to extend their lead to 10-0.
The second half was like a brand new game; unfortunately for Swampscott, it couldn’t do enough to chip away at the lead. Two minutes into the third, the Big Blue held onto possession and got the chance to set up and run some plays. Finally, Jack Herlihy broke through with Swampscott’s first goal.
Freshman goalie Tim Perlin made some crucial saves in the quarter to keep the Big Blue in it. North Reading scored again to make it 11-1, but with Swampscott up a man after a Hornets penalty, Andrew Dove found the back of the net.
Early in the fourth quarter, an off-sides call on North Reading led to a Big Blue possession, and within a few seconds, a Swampscott goal, as Ryan Dignan buried one.
That’d be all the Big Blue could get against the North Reading defense, led by goalie Nick Ponte.
“Obviously, they’re a very good team. The goaltender, not that you saw us on offense much, but he scared us. The kids competed, and that’s all you can ask,” said Pierce, who thinks that the loss is a good learning experience for what should be a very talented Big Blue team next season.
“We’ve got to compete, every play, every second,” he said. “The game plan was there, when we were able to settle down and do what we wanted to do, we had that run there because we settled the ball and did what we could. But (North Reading) is a very talented team.”
