PEABODY — State tournament games are meant to put two competitive teams together in hopes of creating a wire-to-wire contest that’ll leave fans on the edge of their seats. Tuesday’s Division 3 North first-round game between the St. Mary’s and Bishop Fenwick boys lacrosse teams was right on the money.
In a back-and-forth affair from start to finish, Jaiden Moriello’s goal in overtime led No. 12 St. Mary’s to a 13-12 win over No. 5 Fenwick at Donaldson Stadium.
“My hat goes off to Fenwick,” St. Mary’s coach Josh Field said. “They’re a great program. We’ve had a tough time with them since our existence. To get this one off our backs, that means a lot to our kids.”
The Spartans led 12-8 at the start of the fourth quarter before the Crusaders rallied for four goals to close regulation in a 12-12 tie, forcing overtime. Moriello found the back of the net with 1:14 remaining in overtime, punching St. Mary’s ticket to Thursday’s Division 3 North quarter final at No. 4 Ipswich.
“We believe in ourselves,” Field said. “It’s one game at a time, one minute at a time. That’s our motto right now. That’s all we can do.”
Brendan Laundry led the Spartans with five goals and four assists. Davis Kinne scored three goals, Moriello and Nick Napolitano each scored two goals and Joe O’Keefe tallied one goal. Napolitano dished two assists.
Fenwick’s Brian Harrington scored five goals with one assist. Stefano Fabiano, Derek DelVecchio and Diego Alvarez-Segee each scored two goals and Nick Muzi added one goal. DelVecchio tallied five assists.
“We wanted this kind of game against our arch-rival,” Fenwick coach Steve Driscoll said. “It’s a great atmosphere. It’s one of those games that you love to be a part of but you hate to lose. “
After the teams swapped a pair of goals to open the first quarter, Harrington fired a shot into the back of the net to give Fenwick a 3-2 lead. The Spartans answered with scores from Kinne and O’Keefe but a goal from Fenwick’s DelVecchio tied the game at 4-4 at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter was back and forth as well. Laundry started the period with a goal for the Spartans, leading St. Mary’s to a 5-4 edge. That’s where it stayed for the next five minutes, until Fenwick’s Alvarez-Segee knotted the score at 5-5. St. Mary’s ended the half on a 3-1 run with goals from Laundry, Kinne and O’Keefe to carry an 8-6 lead at recess.
Napolitano scored his two goals in the third quarter and St. Mary’s led 11-8 after three. The Spartans added one more to their lead to start the fourth quarter with a 12-8 lead. Down four goals with 9:14 left in regulation, the Crusaders showed no quit.
Alvarez-Segee scored the first of the four, slimming the deficit to 12-9 with 8:06 to play. Fabiano and Harrington followed with goals, making it a 12-11 game with 4:19 on the clock. With 1:07 to play, Muzi scored the game-tying goal to force overtime.
“It was one goal at a time,” Driscoll said. “If we made it bigger than it was, it would’ve gotten ahead of us. We wanted it to make sure it was one goal, next goal. I have to give credit to Brandon Kenney setting the tone on the face-offs. Stefano and Derek took it on their backs to get us back in the game.”
After nearly four minutes of scoreless lacrosse in overtime, Moriello’s game-winning goal capped the 13-12 St. Mary’s victory.
“Jaiden was there a couple times earlier in the game today,” Field said. “He’s a freshman. To see him with that type of composure in an overtime situation, I’m very proud and impressed.”
Fenwick finished the season at 12-7.
“We had the best season in program history,” Driscoll said. “Best win total, we hosted a tournament game. Last year our goal was to make the playoffs, this year it was to host a game. Now we need to win one to make it complete. We’ll miss our seniors but we have a ton of players coming back.”
