BRAINTREE – Judging by the looks on the faces of the Saint John Paul II boys’ lacrosse team after Tuesday afternoon’s game with No. 3 Archbishop Williams, you would never know their season had just come to a end.
St. John Paul II’s Kevin Cotter leaps over an Archbishop Williams’ defender in Tuesday’s tough, 18-4 loss in the MIAA Div. 3 south sectionals’ opening round.
Phil Garceau/Capecod.com Sports
But that was just the case, as the 14th-seeded Lions took one final knee in a semicircle around head coach John Moreno with smiles on their face, despite an 18-4 loss to the perennial power “Archies” in the opening round of the MIAA Div. 3 South Sectionals.
After addressing his team for the final time this season, Moreno was equally optimistic about his Lions moving forward despite the loss.
“The future is really bright,” Moreno said. “We have to learn how to overcome some more adversity and it’s part of the process and part of the stages of getting to where we need to be.”
The Lions’ season comes to an end at 11-10, while the Archies advance to the Div. 3 South quarterfinals against the winner of Tri-County and Abington which will be played on Wednesday (June 3).
After the Lions’ promising start in the opening eight minutes of the game — which resulted in two goals for each team (both Lions goals scored by Brian Hyde) — the Archies erupted on a 16-goal tear and quickly ran away with a blowout victory.
SJP took advantage of a handful of turnovers at midfield, which set in motion a pair of goals for Hyde, but after the Lions’ second goal, the Archies clamped down.
“I think part of it was we had two weeks off without a game, just practicing,” Archies’ head coach Steve Rotondi said. “It’s different when you go live in a game and come out against a team, they were fired up and we were shaking the rust off.”
The Archies’ athleticism was too much to handle, as Archbishop Williams’ Luke Bernasconi dominated the faceoff X, giving the Archies possession after each and every one of their goals.
St. John Paul II’s Brian Hyde and Gil Bach celebrate one of Hyde’s goals but the Lions simply could not match up with the host Archbishop Williams’ team.
Phil Garceau/Capecod.com Sports
“They came out in a zone, so once we saw the zone we went right into that,” Rotondi said. “We went with long possessions, kind of lull them to sleep and when we see the right opportunity, go.”
Bernasconi continued to be a thorn in the Lions’ side as he also notched five first-half goals on the way to a 12-2 halftime lead. He had six goals overall in the game.
“Our Achilles’ Heel all year was our defense” Moreno said. “We just need to get them more experience. I wouldn’t say athletically, but kids with lacrosse IQ, however the toughness certainly showed up.”
With a critical disadvantage on the faceoff X, the Lions’ possessions were few and far between, while any possessions that were put together were quickly thwarted by the Archies’ shutdown defense.
For nearly 37 minutes, the Lions offense went through a scoring drought, breaking the spell with just over three minutes to go in the game when Cal Teceno slipped a bouncing shot past goaltender Mike Nassif. Gil Bach added another goal with just over a minute to play.
One of the few bright spots on the Lions’ afternoon came from goaltender Griffin Guerin, who stopped 12 shots on the afternoon against the potent Archies’ offense.
More impressive for Guerin was the fact that it was only his fifth game manning the cage, thrust into the position after the three goalies ahead of him went down due to a variety of reasons this season.
“I’m not using excuses but he is our fourth string goalie and his fifth game as a goalie,” Moreno said. “We can go down the line and make excuses but we haven’t and we can’t and we won’t. We refuse to.”
— Story written by Capecod.com contributing sportswriter Phil Garceau. Follow him on Twitter @pcgarceau. Edited by Capecod.com sports editor Sean Walsh.
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