NEWBURYPORT — It just wasn’t suppose to end like this for the Newburyport boys lacrosse senior class.
–A combined 60 total wins.
–Three CAL Kinney titles.
–Two Division 3 quarterfinal runs.
–One state semifinal appearance.
But that’s just the beauty — or in this case, heartbreak — of a one-and-done, do-or-die playoff format.
Many around the community believed that this year’s senior-laden team was the one that would bring home the program’s first ever state championship, but in an instant on Wednesday night, Newburyport unfortunately woke up from that dream. The No. 6-seeded Clippers put together a valiant comeback attempt in the fourth quarter that ended up a goal short, punctuating an 8-7, upset loss to No. 11 Shawsheen Tech in the Division 3 Round of 16. The Clippers held possession of the ball for the final two minutes of the game trying to find the equalizer, but saw four shots go wide during that stretch while the scrappy, athletic Rams defended for their lives.
And after goalie Nate Malandain blocked a final-second, tough-angle shot at the doorstep, the upset celebration was on.
“It’s a special, special group, and I’m going to miss them a lot,” said Newburyport coach Josh Wedge of his 13-person senior class. “They did a lot in their high school career to make us who we are as a program, and we just weren’t able to keep our season going for them today. At this point of the year it’s just survive and advance, and I thought for a minute there we were going to get it even and have a chance to survive.
“But we couldn’t get it done.”
And it’s not like Newburyport (18-2) was taking the game lightly.
The Clippers of course knew that the Rams (19-1) similarly entered the game with just one loss on the year like them. During the team’s playoff-opening win over Groton-Dunstable earlier in the week, the Clippers welcomed back starting goalie Brendan Grossman after a month-long absence with mono. And looking ahead to Wednesday’s game after that victory, the senior captain referred to the Rams as a “serious program.”
Which proved to be 100% accurate.
A normally potent Newburyport offense — which came in averaging 14.2 goals per game and had been held under 10 just twice all year — rattled some posts during the first half in what was an “out of sorts” performance. Shawsheen Tech took advantage by picking up a majority of the available ground balls, and would go into halftime with a 5-1 lead.
And heading into the fourth quarter, it was 8-3.
“(Shawsheen Tech) really took it to us in the first half,” said Wedge. “They’re athletic and they chased us all over the field, and we were having a hard time dealing with it for awhile. We hit a couple of posts early in the game that kind of allowed them to pull away. The first possession we got a good shot that rattled the post, then the second or third possession we rattled the post again, and (Shawsheen) was just coming up with those loose balls early on.”
But with its season on the line, Newburyport fought back.
It was junior Carter Scott (4g, 1a) starting the fourth-quarter rally, scoring a pair of goals to bring it back to 8-5. Sophomore Luke MacIsaac (1g, 1a) found the back of the net with just over three minutes left, then after a faceoff win from Matt Page, it was senior captain Colin Fuller rifling home his lone goal of the game to make it 8-7 with 2:50 remaining on the clock.
Even with how uncharacteristically it had played all night, Newburyport was on the cusp of surviving.
Shawsheen Tech got the ensuing faceoff after a timeout, but a Newburyport defense led by senior captains Brian Lucy and Henry Walker forced a turnover with just over two minutes left. With Fuller, Eli Sirota, Sam Craig (1g), Scott, Davis Pons, Asher Kinsey and MacIsaac giving everything they had, the Clippers got those four final looks that all whizzed past the net. But a tenacious Rams defense didn’t allow those shots to be taken with any sort of space or clear angle, and the clock would slowly tick away and eventually land on zero to end Newburyport’s magical season.
“We battled really hard as the game went on,” said Wedge. “We started to win those loose balls which allowed us to scrap back into the game. But I give (Shawsheen) credit. Watching them on film, I knew we were in for a battle. I thought they played a lot like we do.
“We just picked a bad time of the year to play our worst game.”