PEABODY — Some games are easier to win than others. The Peabody boys lacrosse team found that out first hand Saturday when the Tanners defeated visiting Swampscott 13-4.
The game was penalty-plagued from the get-go and had both teams playing either a man up or a man down for much of the game.
Peabody jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first eight minutes of action on man up goals by Nick Patturelli (3 goals), Connor McCarron (2 goals, 3 assists) and Jack Houlden (goal, assist).
“It was a really good team win and it feels great to get back to .500 after starting 0-2,” said coach Greg Welch. “The key to our fast start was the faceoff and Pat Russo. I don’t even know what the faceoff numbers were but he had to have won at least 70 percent of them and our wing play was great. And we didn’t have those stupid turnovers we usually do, and were still able to press.
“It took us the first couple of man up chances to get it and there were a whole bunch of them, but once we got the rhythm and were comfortable shooting putting the ball on the net, that’s when good things happened.”
Freshman Andrew Lucas was a beast in the backfield for the Tanners, earning high praise (and the game ball) from Welch.
“The biggest thing playing defense is communication and Drew was out there communicating, asking where the help was, getting kids sticks up and he is only a freshman,” said Welch. “He was just vital for us, taking the ball away, getting the GB’s (ground balls) and communicating. He was just awesome and had a great game and that’s why he got the game ball.”
The Big Blue (2-4) got a stand-up effort from junior Jake Bartram in goal despite the fact that it was only his third game in that position.
“Our goalie went down hurt the other day, if I didn’t know it was only Jake’s third time in net, I’d say he was a pretty good goalie,” said Swampscott coach Todd Pierce. “But we lost the game because we didn’t adjust to the game. If the game is being called tight we have to adjust to that and we didn’t. It was frustrating, but I think we showed good sportsmanship throughout.
“We were in the penalty box the whole first half. I told them at halftime that if we stay out of the box, we will see what we can do. Our 6-on-6 and man ups in the second half looked really good, so I think we can give them a much better game the next time we play.”
