ITEM PHOTO BY KATIE MORRISON
Lynn’s Jose Matul, right, tries to cut off the path of Saugus’ Andrew DeMatteo.
By HAROLD RIVERA
LYNN — In a battle between Northeastern Conference foes, the Saugus boys lacrosse team earned its first win of the season, defeating Lynn, 8-2, on Friday afternoon at Manning Field.
Christian Billingsley, Jack Trainor and Steve Wright each scored a pair of goals to power the Sachems to the win. Saugus coach Rob Scuzzarella was impressed by his team’s performance, especially given that the Sachems haven’t spent much time outdoors thus far.
“It was a good to open up against Lynn because this is historically a competitive game for us,” Scuzzarella said. “It’s nice to get the kids out here and have them playing against someone else.”
Billingsley scored the first goal of the Sachems’ season when he put the ball past Lynn goalie Chris Johnson to give Saugus a 1-0 lead in the late stages of the first quarter. With just over a minute to play in the quarter, Nick Sanderson scored to pad the Saugus lead at 2-0.
The score stayed at 2-0 through the end of the first half, as the second quarter was a defensive battle. Lynn’s Johnson and Saugus goalie Alex Debrito were both impressive throughout the game.
“Saugus’ goalie (Debrito) had a great game,” Jets coach Peter Pappagianopoulos said. “We weren’t expecting that out of him, he was great. We tried to place our shots a little too hard, tried to pick the corners and we just missed the net with too many of them. We have to start hitting the net. Even with a good goalie we have to make him make the saves.”
Pappagianopoulos added, “Both goalies played great today.”
Christian Heffernan made it a three-goal lead for the Sachems when he found the back of the net in the opening minute of the third quarter. Wright made it 4-0 in favor of Saugus before Lynn got on the board behind a goal from Matt Moorehouse with 1:47 left in the quarter. Thirty seconds later, Wright scored again to make it a 5-1 lead. That’s where the score stayed through three.
“In the second half we definitely cashed in on our chances when we needed to,” Scuzzarella said. “I think that was probably the difference for us. We played pretty well defensively, Alex (Debrito) made some nice saves from the perimeter.”
Billingsley scored his second goal of the contest to start the fourth quarter, giving the Sachems a 6-1 edge. The Jets fought back with a goal scored by Joe Cross with eight minutes left in the game, making it 8-2 in Saugus’ favor.
“The effort was great,” Pappagianopoulos said. “We worked hard. We couldn’t finish but it wasn’t for lack of trying. We probably outshot them in the game.”
Pappagianopoulos added, “I’m proud of my guys, they played really well. If we could finish when we got the shots, it would’ve been a different story.”
Trainor scored a pair of insurance goals for the Sachems in the closing stages of the game, icing the victory for Saugus.
“It’s nice to get started with a win here,” Scuzzarella said. “But we have to get right back to work on Monday. We have Everett on Monday so over the weekend we’ll try to fit in a practice.”
Saugus (1-0) will look to earn its second win of the young season on Monday against NEC newcomer Everett.
Lynn (0-2) hopes to earn its first win of the season, also on Monday, when it hosts Revere.
“We have to finish, it’s that simple,” Pappagianopoulos said. “We have to find the back of the net a little bit. The effort was there, we just need to finish.”
