NEWBURYPORT — It’s always important to play this level of competition.
As far as boys lacrosse is concerned, yes, the Cape Ann League does provide some stern tests during the regular season when you talk about the Pentucket’s, Lynnfield’s, Ipswich’s and Manchester-Essex’s of the world. But the CAL is not the be-all-end-all when it comes to lacrosse in the state, let alone New England, so you do yourself no favors in scheduling cream puffs from lower divisions in you non-conference slate.
Newburyport understand this.
For the past two years, the Clippers have challenge New Hampshire powerhouse Portsmouth — also nicknamed the Clippers — to a nonleague game, and the results have been well worth it. The “Northern” Clippers were the 2021 and 2022 Division 2 champions up in the Granite State, and lost their three-peat, by a goal, to Derryfield in the title game last year (12-11).
And in Wednesday’s season opener for it, Portsmouth looked every bit the New Hampshire menace it’s been.
Newburyport led by a goal after the first quarter at James T. Stehlin Field, but the visitors proved to be too strong. A dominant second and third frames put Portsmouth well out in front by a near double-digit margin, and Newburyport couldn’t keep up in an eventual 19-13 loss. But even in defeat, the simple fact of just playing a team of that caliber is something that will hopefully sharpen the iron in the long run.
“They’re really good,” said Newburyport coach Josh Wedge on Portsmouth. “(No.) 24 for them, and 7, you know, we have some tough opponents but I don’t know if anybody — especially 24 — I don’t know if anybody has a kid like him. He’s about as old-school a middie as they come. Kid plays the whole game, he doesn’t come off. He doesn’t seem to ever get tired.”
Some high praise.
But well earned, as the “No. 24” Wedge was referring to was Portsmouth star Zac Amend, a senior who is committed to Bryant. The midfielder played in all three levels for the entire game, and not only scored at will, but set up the majority of the goals scored by teammates Ben Purcell (Binghamton commit) and Nick Smith (Quinnipiac).
“We knew it was going to be a tough game,” said Wedge. “I thought overall we handled their offense really well, and then as the game wore on, our communication broke down a little bit and we started to lose cutters. and when they’re scoring goal after goal like that, it becomes like an avalanche. It’s hard to stop in the middle of the game. But I think when we watch the film we’ll see a lot of good things, and a few bad things on defense that we’ll work on.”
At the start of the game, though, the host Clippers came ready to play.
Behind goals from senior Owen Kreuz (an Assumption commit) and junior Colin Fuller, Newburyport was able to hold a 2-1 lead after the first quarter. Kreuz made it a 3-1 game early in the second before Portsmouth ripped off three straight to take the lead, but even after, specialist Matthew Page won the faceoff, and sprinted all by himself into the offensive zone before ripping a goal to tie things up at 4-4.
That, however, is when Portsmouth took over.
With its “Big 3” doing the majority of the damage, Portsmouth ripped off six straight goals to take a 10-4 lead into halftime. Winning faceoffs and gaining possession was the key for the N.H. Clippers during the stretch, and even after Kreuz scored his third — and final — goal right out of the break, the next four tallies all went the visitor’s way to bump the lead up to 14-5.
“You can’t give a team like that easy goals,” said Wedge. “I think the thing we needed to do today was be a little bit better on faceoffs. A team like that, if you allow them to keep getting the ball, it’s going to be tough. I thought our offense got good looks. Even when we didn’t score, we hit the post or hit the goalie a couple times on wide-open looks. We just didn’t have the ball much between the second and third quarters.
“But, I wasn’t discouraged by anything that happened today.”
It was a 17-7 game heading into the fourth, and Portsmouth decided to get some backups into the game. Fuller would finish with a team-high five goals for the host Clippers, and Page would add his second on a similar faceoff win that he just took straight to the house. Davis Pons and Carter Scott added tallies, as did freshman Luke MacIsaac, who scored his first career goal on a pretty bounce shot.
And newsflash, this isn’t just a one-off.
Newburyport will renew its growing rivalry with Maine powerhouse Cape Elizabeth on Monday, and then play Concord-Carlisle and Norwell later in the spring. The Clippers actually handed Cape Elizabeth its lone loss of the season a year ago (8-7 up in Maine, no less), before the Capers went on to win their third straight Class A championship.
“We have to defend our Maine state championship on Monday,” joked Wedge with a laugh.
Portsmouth (N.H.) 19, Newburyport 13
Goals: Colin Fuller 5, Owen Kreuz 3, Matthew Page 2, Davis Pons, Carter Scott, Luke MacIsaac
Assists: Logan Jones 2, Scott, Kreuz, Duncan Coir, Jack Sherman, Eli Sirota
Saves: Brendan Grossman 20
Portsmouth (1-0): 1 9 7 2 — 19
Newburyport (1-1): 1 3 3 6 — 13