SWAMPSCOTT — It was smooth sailing for the Swampscott boys lacrosse team in a 16-2 win over visiting Winthrop Thursday at Blocksidge Field.
Plenty of players were itching to get on the field and on the scoresheet for the Big Blue, who had nine different goal scorers in the victory.
“Obviously the guys have been doing a great job on the field,” Swampscott coach Geoff Beckett said. “Now they’re all eager to get in there and make something happen when they can.”
Jack Russo led the way for Swampscott with a team-high five goals while Christian Pierro added three. Vincent Palmer added two goals and made his presence felt during faceoffs to win the Big Blue plenty of possessions. Draws have been a focus for Swampscott the past couple weeks, with some new young coaches joining the bunch.
“We’ve picked up a couple coaches over the last week that have been helping out coming from college,” Beckett said. “That’s been huge. Will Cruger has been helping us out on faceoffs. He plays at Nichols College. It’s been great to have that extra guy to help out during practice and during games. With only two coaches, it gets tough because one does offense and one does defense and everything else kind of falls off.”
Cole Hamernick, Thomas Poska, Jayson Codispoti, Zach Pierce, Chase DiLisio, and even goalkeeper Aidan Breault added one goal for Swampscott.
A shorthanded Winthrop team held Swampscott to just two goals in the first quarter before things started to snowball. Steve Perullo and Ricky Rosado scored the lone Vikings goals.
“We have a lot of young guys,” Winthrop coach Brian Donnelly said. “We had a couple guys out injured, so we really only had one sub. When you’re facing a team as deep as Swampscott on a hot day, you’re gonna get gassed. But we’re not making excuses. We have some awesome seniors as well that have gotten us to this point. We just have to keep grinding and show up every day looking to get better.”
Palmer took the opening draw and scored to open the game while Russo added his first tally to put Swampscott up 2-0 in the first.
But Winthrop’s defense couldn’t keep things as close in the second. Pierro and Hamernick found the back of the net, followed by another goal from Russo just over two minutes into the frame.
Winthrop took one back when Jack Hayes assisted Perullo’s goal to cut the lead to 5-1, but it was all Swampscott from there. Russo added a pair of goals, Pierro added another, and Poska also found the back of the net to put Swampscott ahead 9-1 before the half.
The second half was the same story. Palmers and Codispoti scored before Breault lugged a ball out of his own crease and scored down the other end to put Swampscott up 12-1. Pierce and Pierro also scored again in the third frame.
Rosado rounded out the scoring for Winthrop to start the fourth before Russo’s final tally and a goal from DiLisio capped things off for the Big Blue.
Swampscott (7-2) has the weekend off before traveling to Gloucester Tuesday (4).
Winthrop (1-7) hosts Marblehead Monday (11).
