PEABODY — The Bishop Fenwick boys lacrosse team rode a five-goal performance from Liam Hill to its first win of the season Monday, topping visiting Matignon 8-6 at Donaldson Stadium.
“Liam came in last year as a transfer from Governor’s Academy,” Fenwick coach Steve Driscoll said. “He’s really stepped into the role of being a leader on this team. He’s especially helping with our young attackmen. We’re starting a freshman and a sophomore with him, so it’s crucial for him to be a leader. He produces and teaches these kids how to play lacrosse.”
Nick Sasso, Aiden Anthony and Ryan McGann each had one goal in the win. Sasso actually spent most of the game anchoring Fenwick’s defense along with Nick Wesley and Liam Foley. The group shut down Matignon in the fourth quarter thanks to some solid late play from goalie George Kostolias.
“In that fourth quarter, the defense was great,” Driscoll said. “It’s another brand-new group. Liam Foley was a captain of the soccer team this fall. He’s never picked up a lacrosse stick before in his life. He stepped right in, has started every game and played almost every single minute. Nick Sasso played attack as a sophomore, wanted to get on the field this year and grabbed the stick. And Nick Wesley has been an anchor in front of George.”
The Crusaders jumped right out front early thanks to two quick goals from Hill and another from Sasso to go ahead 3-0.
But Matignon clawed back into things in the second quarter with a pair of goals of its own despite being a man down after a penalty. Another goal from Hill gave Fenwick a cushion, but Matignon tied things up at 4-4 before the half.
Things went back-and-forth for a stretch in the third quarter, but another Hill tally and a hard-fought score by Anthony put Fenwick ahead 7-5 midway through the quarter.
With 32 seconds to play in the third, Matignon scored again to make it a one goal game and looked poised to make another comeback, but Fenwick shut the door.
Hill’s fifth goal put the Crusaders up 8-6 and Kostolias did the rest, with a few late saves to lead Fenwick to its first Catholic Central League victory of the year.
“Games like this are huge,” Driscoll said. “We have to be able to learn from game-like situations. We’re definitely in the process of getting back into things, replenishing and rebuilding. We’re getting young guys a ton of runs which has been awesome. We definitely graduated some guys from last year so it’s a really big learning process for a lot of these kids.”
Fenwick (1-3) has a day off before visiting Cardinal Spellman Wednesday (4).
“It’s nice to get into a groove here,” Driscoll said. “With this year, it’s recovery days in between games, not really practice. We’ll make sure all our bumps and bruises are taken care of so we’re ready to go next game.”
