LYNN — The Bishop Fenwick and St. Mary’s boys lacrosse teams always circle the games they play against each other on their calendars. A CCL rivalry that always brings the best out of each team was renewed Wednesday night at Manning Field.
Fenwick jumped out to an early lead, St. Mary’s battled late but the Crusaders held off the rally for a 13-9 victory. Fenwick improved its record to 7-2 with the win.
“Anything Fenwick-St. Mary’s is going to be back and forth,” Fenwick coach Stephen Driscoll said. “It spills over from football into hockey and basketball. It’s definitely a special game, especially being at night at Manning. It’s definitely always a game we always look forward to.”
“Any CCL game is a rivalry game,” Spartans coach Josh Field said. “Fenwick’s one we felt we could compete with. These guys felt we had a good chance today. We just didn’t get it.”
Nick Muzi, Brian Harrington and Stefano Fabiano each scored three goals for Fenwick. Robbie Favuzza scored two, while Diego Alvarez-Segee and Zach Talbot each scored once.
For St. Mary’s, Joe O’Keefe, Nick Napolitano and Jaiden Moriello scored two goals each. Brendan Laundry, Jason Loeser and Collin Jackson each scored one.
Fenwick took a 3-0 lead in the first quarter with two goals from Fabiano and one from Muzi. St. Mary’s slimmed the deficit to 3-2 with goals from Laundry and Moriello. Harrington fired two shots into the back of the net to give Fenwick a 5-2 lead after one.
“That was one of the best starts we’ve had this year,” Driscoll said. “We got off on the right foot. I didn’t think we had the best warmup. Maybe they were just trying to trick me. St. Mary’s faceoff player (Davis Kinne) torched us on faceoffs. After the first couple I thought we’d be in for a long day but we were able to gain possession off ground balls and if you have the ball, you’ll be able to score.”
The Crusaders began to distance themselves from St. Mary’s in the second quarter. Favuzza and Alvarez-Segee scored for Fenwick to bump the lead to 7-2. Napolitano scored to slice it to 7-3 but goals from Muzi and Fabiano gave the Crusaders a 9-3 advantage. O’Keef found the net at the end of the half but St. Mary’s trailed 9-4 at recess.
“I knew we were in the game at halftime,” Field said. “We can’t spot them three goals in the first two minutes. Playing catch up just changes the whole momentum and dynamic of the game.”
St. Mary’s scored twice in the third quarter and limited Fenwick to one goal to trail 10-6 moving into the fourth.
“I thought we tightened down on defense,” Field said. “We gave up one goal in the third quarter, which was better. That got us back into the game. It just felt like every time we were there, they pulled away again. The kids played hard. The good thing is the mistakes we made are mistakes we can fix.”
A goal from O’Keefe with 10:35 to play in the fourth got the Spartans within three goals, down 10-7. A 3-0 Crusaders run was Fenwick’s answer, putting the game out of reach. Loeser and Napolitano each scored once in the closing minutes for the 13-9 final.
“Having three senior defenders is huge for us,” Driscoll said. “They’ve been there. They know what the drill is. They know what we want to do defensively. It’s great having a couple other coaches on the field, to be able to adjust on the fly. With St. Mary’s attackers, you have to because they move the ball fast.”
St. Mary’s (5-5) visits Austin Prep Monday. Fenwick hosts Manchester-Essex Saturday (4).
