GLOUCESTER — The Beverly boys lacrosse team has been rolling of late, and the train didn’t stop in Gloucester Thursday afternoon.
Thanks to a scorching hot offensive start, the Panthers cruised to a 16-5 victory over the Fishermen. It was their fourth win in a row and eighth in their last nine contests as they look to move up in the Division 2 power rankings heading down the regular season stretch.
“Our offense really stepped up today, started moving the ball around,” said Beverly assistant coach Andrew Irving. “They started pressuring us early so moving the ball, spinning around, moving our feet, that was really something we needed to do to execute.”
The Panthers (now 8-6) scored the game’s first four goals, held a 6-1 advantage after one, and built a 10-3 lead by halftime. Beverly was aggressive on the attack, moved the ball well and executed a high percentage shot selection en route to the early lead.
The visitors also dominated on the face-off X, something that helped them garner more and more possessions before capitalizing on them in the zone.
“And they weren’t afraid to shoot, either,” added Irving. “So it was good for us to really push hard early, get those 10 goals to start and not play from behind like we have done in the past.”
In building its swift lead, Beverly got two goals from Connor Wallace and John Malobloicki, as well as individual tallies from Chris McKie, Lucas Carbone, Talan Rafter, and Ridley Acheson. Long pole defenseman Brad Griffin also had a coast-to-coast score of his own, swiping a steal near his own goalie’s crease, getting out in transition and firing it home before the defense could get set.
“Our long poles are not afraid to shoot the ball and they can really push it, too,” said Irving. “They know how to find their way up the field and when they get that green light, they go for it.”
Gloucester countered with a pair of strikes from James Sanfilippo and another from Charlie Terelak. But already down seven goals at the half, the deficit was ultimately too lofty to overcome.
In the second half, the Fishermen struck first on a goal from Colby Jewell (with Brett Cunningham notching his third assist of the day on the play) to cut it to a 10-4 game. But that was as close as they’d get, with Beverly adding two more scores before the third frame was over and four more unanswered markers in the fourth.
Maloblocki finished with four goals and two assists for the Orange-and-Black. Aidan Sullivan (3 assists), Wallace (assist) and McKie each had two goals; Rafter scored once with two helpers; and Coby Malionek, Will Johnson, Brian Kessel (assist), Griffin (assist) and Acherton had single tallies. Ethan Haight (2) and Bobby Massa picked up assists, and goalie Matteo Lucrizia stopped 10 shots.
Now the Panthers will turn their attention to the stretch run, which begins with a big clash at Arlington on Saturday.
“If we can come out and win that game (against Arlington), that would be huge,” added Irving. “Starting the season 0-5 to now really pressing towards the end and getting our power rankings up and coming together as a family going into the playoffs would be huge.
“But we need a good game Saturday against a good Division 1 team that knows how to play, they have a good schedule too, so it’s going to be a big day for us.”
Contact Nick Giannino at NGiannino@Salemnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @NickGiannino_SN.