LYNNFIELD — Behind a stellar team-wide effort on the defensive end and a late goal from Drew Damiani, the Lynnfield boys lacrosse team pulled out a 7-6 win over Cape Ann League rival North Reading Wednesday evening at Pioneer Stadium.
“When you play a team twice and you go up against a squad like that with a lot of good athletes, you’ve just got to give 100 percent focus at all times,” said Lynnfield coach Pat Lamusta. “We had guys at all three levels working hard and coming up with big plays when we needed them. It truly was a great team win.”
Jack Calichman led the way with two goals and three assists for Lynnfield, while Damiani and Will Norton each scored two goals in the win. Will Steadman added one goal and one assist, while Janssen Sperling notched one assist.
Also standing out for the Pioneers was goalie Ben Pimentel, who finished the game with eight saves — including a few clutch ones down the stretch to keep the Pioneers in front.
“As a young guy, we really do ask a lot of him,” Lamusta said of Pimentel, a freshman. “I just had a feeling watching him in eighth grade that he’d be able to carve out a role for himself early on, and he’s really come through for us in a lot of games this year.”
Scoring was tough to come by early in the game, as the two teams closed the first quarter tied at 1-1.
But the second quarter saw things get moving, starting with a goal from Norton just 23 seconds into the frame. What followed was a back-and-forth battle, as North Reading responded a few minutes later and then the Pioneers answered right back with a tally from Calichman 30 seconds after that. North Reading answered again two minutes later, but then Calichman capitalized on a Hornets turnover and once again gave Lynnfield the lead. North Reading tied the game at 4-4 with 4:17 to play in the half, but Lynnfield was able to take a lead into the break when Calichman found Norton in transition for a score with 2:01 to play.
The third quarter tipped back in North Reading’s favor, as the Hornets scored two goals to Lynnfield’s one — tying the score at 6-6 heading into the final quarter.
While North Reading played nearly half of the fourth quarter on the offensive end, Lynnfield locked down on defense and got a few big saves from Pimentel to keep the game tied.
Then, with four minutes to play, the Pioneers drew a slash and earned the man-advantage. It didn’t take long for them to cash in, as Sperling found Damiani high in the box and Damiani ripped a shot that found the back of the net and gave Lynnfield the lead the rest of the way.
North Reading made an attempt to push the ball up the field as time ticked away, but the Pioneers came up with a big defensive sequence to get the ball back and hold possession until time expired.
Lynnfield (6-3) has another tough CAL matchup coming Friday evening (6) at home against Manchester-Essex.
“The parity in this league is incredible, and anything can happen on any given day,” said Lamusta. “This is a three-game week for us and you don’t get many of those, so we’ve got to make the most of tomorrow and then come out with another good effort on Friday night.”
