SWAMPSCOTT — The Swampscott boys lacrosse team got off to a slow start and could never quite recover, falling to Pentucket by a score of 13-4 in a non-league game at Blocksidge Field Saturday afternoon.
Cole Hamernick led the offense for the Big Blue with two goals, along with one apiece from Zach Pierce and Jack Russo. Aidan Tierney led the offense for Pentucket, scoring four goals and lifting his team to victory.
Swampscott certainly didn’t get the start they hoped for, as Pentucket controlled the offensive and defensive flow of the game. The Big Blue found themselves down six early in the contest, but thanks to Pierce getting the Big Blue on the scoreboard late in the second quarter, followed by two quick goals from Hamernick, the Big Blue went into the half only down four as they began chipping away at Pentucket’s lead.
“I think we came out with a ton of energy; I love how we battled for all the ground balls and on defense,” said Swampscott coach Geoff Beckett. “Our one-on-one defense was fantastic. Pentucket is a very talented and disciplined team. They were skilled enough to capitalize on our mistakes.”
In spite of whatever momentum the Big Blue found before the second half, Pentucket was able to bring its lead back to six as they scored two quick goals on back-to-back plays late in the third quarter, only to be followed up with another with only a minute left before the final frame.
“We came out in the third quarter, guns a-blazing, it was awesome,” said Beckett. “We just couldn’t capitalize on them. We just started to run out of gas towards the end. We had a lot of positives today, but just some things we have to work on and fix for our next game.”
For the final frame of the game, the story remained the same as Pentucket controlled both sides of the ball, and continued to build upon an already insurmountable lead, leading by as much as 10 at one point. As the final minutes ticked off the clock, the Big Blue just could not put anything together to find any signs of life as their first game of their season came to a disappointing end.
Swampscott (0-1) looks to bounce back against Saugus on Wednesday (4:30).
