PEABODY — Behind a second-half surge that saw it score seven unanswered goals, the Peabody boys lacrosse team took down Northeastern Conference foe Winthrop by a score of 14-5 Thursday afternoon at Coley Lee Field.
There weren’t a ton of X’s and O’s that needed changing for the Tanners — all they needed was to clean up their sloppy play.
“We just cleaned up the passing and catching, it was really sloppy early on,” said Peabody coach Leo Shidler. “There was really no other adjustment; we just had to clean it up. Once we did, we were able to go on a nice run.”
Drew Lucas had a huge game with three goals and two assists for Peabody, while Cam Collins was close behind with three goals. Anthony Bettencourt had two goals and three assists, Nick Salvati had two goals and one assist and Luke Buckley had one goal and two assists. Keenan Madden, Matt Bettencourt and Tyler Kalloo each scored one goal. Goalies Derek Patturelli (six saves) and Tom Lane (four saves) combined for the win in net.
For Winthrop, Jack Hayes led the offensive attack with three goals. Steve Perullo scored two goals, while Rob Rich had one assist. Goalie Juan Guaque had seven saves in the loss.
“We were really happy going into the second half 2-2, but it’s tough when we don’t have many subs and I think they were just able to outrun us in the second half,” said Winthrop coach Brian Donnelly. “We got down a couple of goals there, but it was great to see our guys fight until the end and keep stepping up to fill the holes that we have.”
Winthrop actually struck first in this one, getting a goal from Perullo less than two minutes into the first quarter. But Peabody answered right back, getting goals from Buckley and Madden to take a 2-1 lead into the second quarter.
The Vikings kept the game close, tying the game on a goal from Hayes just 15 seconds into the quarter. Peabody managed a goal of its own a minute later, and the Tanners took a 3-2 lead into the halftime break.
Then Peabody broke it open.
Behind seven unanswered goals over the first seven minutes of the third quarter, the Tanners blew the game open and took a 10-2 lead. Perullo stopped the scoring streak with his second goal of the game at the end of the third, but Peabody still held a 10-3 lead going into the final frame.
The Tanners were able to keep their distance the rest of the way, capping the scoring with two goals from Lucas and a goal each from Salvati and Kalloo to seal the win.
Winthrop (1-9) hosts Salem Monday (4).
“The thing about playing in this league is that when we go up against some of these teams, we can really see the level we need to get to if we want to be successful,” said Donnelly. “It’s nice to see us put up some good numbers against these good teams, so the goal is to just keep working and continue to improve that.”
Peabody (8-2) hosts Saugus Monday (4). The Tanners are still trying to get into a groove offensively after losing top scorer Jack Houlden to injury last week.
“Without having Jack, we’re still trying to figure things out offensively and seeing who works best together out there,” said Shidler. “On the defensive side, it’s about working on positioning and getting the ball on your stick. There’s still plenty of work to do.”
