DANVERS — A nightmare of a second quarter proved costly for the No. 1 St. John’s Prep lacrosse team in a 10-6 loss to No. 3 Lincoln-Sudbury in Friday’s Division 1 North final at Glatz Field.
Of the 16 goals, 11 were scored in the second quarter with Lincoln-Sudbury outscoring the Eagles 8-3. That put the Eagles in a 9-5 hole they couldn’t dig themselves out of in the second half. Eagles coach John Pynchon was frustrated with his team’s play from start to finish.
“We played awful,” Pynchon said. “We just didn’t get it done flat out. We didn’t get it done coaching, executing and playing wise. We just got beat the whole game. The first play from scrimmage we threw the ball right to them and give them a fastbreak goal. That’s not going to get it done at this point.”
Patrick Keefe led the Eagles with three goals. Jake Surette added a pair of goals and Craig Yannone scored one. Yannone also won a majority of the game’s faceoffs but uncharacteristic mistakes hurt the offense.
“We threw away the ball,” Pynchon said. “(Lincoln-Sudbury) played good defense and we weren’t disciplined enough to move the ball and attack on the back side. We got frustrated and started shooting balls from 15 yards. It was a complete utter breakdown offensively and defensively. It wasn’t an effort thing just a failure to execute. Maybe a bigger stage than we’re ready for. Who knows? I thought we were confident coming in but we just didn’t make the plays to get it done.”
The Eagles won the opening faceoff but Lincoln-Sudbury capitalized on the early turnover. Matt Ward swung a pass to Colby Jones who found the back of the net to put Lincoln-Sudbury ahead 1-0.
Midway through the first quarter St. John’s offense started to settle down. Surette assisted a goal on a nice shot from Keefe to tie the game at 1-1. Less than a minute later Keefe found the back of the net again to give St. John’s a 2-1 lead after one.
Yannone started the second quarter with a faceoff win and scored a quick goal to stretch the Eagles lead to 3-1.
But Lincoln-Sudbury started to take over from there. Goals from Jones and Ward in a one-minute span tied the game at 3-3. Another goal from Jones gave Lincoln-Sudbury a brief lead but Surette responded with a goal to tie things up at 4-4.
Lincoln-Sudbury dominated midway through the quarter and went on a 4-0 run to go ahead 8-4.
The Eagles got back on track with a goal from Surette but Lincoln-Sudbury’s Nick Mitchell found the back of the net with 17 seconds remaining in the half to stretch the lead to 9-5 before the break.
Another quick goal to start the second half pushed the Lincoln-Sudbury lead to 10-5. Keefe fought for positioning in front of the net and added his third goal next to cut the lead to 10-6.
But the Eagles couldn’t create any momentum. Lincoln-Sudbury put together a few long possessions to eat away most of the clock in the third quarter.
The fourth quarter was much of the same. St. John’s created some pressure with a few possessions late in the fourth but the Lincoln-Sudbury defense held strong for the win.
The Eagles finished their season at 18-4. Pynchon was quick to give credit to his senior class not only for a great season but for helping St. John’s build a winning program during their careers.
“They’re outstanding,” Pynchon said. “I can’t say enough about those guys. They never once balked at a single thing we asked them to do. Whether it was lifting or doing work out of the season they’ve been outstanding. The whole group , every single one of them has seriously pushed us in the direction that we needed to go.
“I think we tell them every year, ‘the job is to put the program forward’ and they put the program forward,” Pynchon said. “Did they accomplish all their goals? No. But they put us in a position that will have an impact down the road. They’re all going to go on and be successful.”