Fresh off a pair of Northeastern Conference wins over Salem and Peabody, the Gloucester boys lacrosse team went into Friday afternoon’s rivalry bout with Danvers feeling confident in their abilities to compete.
And while the Fishermen hung tough early on, the Falcons ultimately proved to be a level or two up from their previous opponents, resulting in an eventual 18-4 setback at Newell Stadium.
Danvers benefited from some sensational work at the faceoff-X from Wentworth-bound specialist Evan Roach, and once they gained possession, they played under control and attacked the net with a purpose.
“Their faceoff guy was lights out; we’ve really been leaning on Connor Mahoney and Jackson Harnish to win some faceoffs, but they got beat up pretty good today,” admitted GHS head coach Geoff Kennedy, his team now 2-2 on the year. “I was proud of how they kept competing, but he was just on another level.
“They’re a well coached team, they’re definitely team oriented and very unselfish,” continued Kennedy. “They move the ball well, they found the open guy and generated a lot of easy goals.”
It was close early, with Gloucester getting first half goals from Milo Aberle, Finn Costa and Connor Mahoney. But Danvers started to pull away in the second quarter with a string of unanswered strikes.
By halftime, the Falcons had seized a virtually insurmountable 10-3 advantage, increased that quickly with a pair of unanswered markers in the third, and cruised to the finish line from there.
All said, Danvers got six goals and two helpers from Mason Gadbois; five goals and an assist from Tyler Moody; four goals from Hunter DeDominicis; two goals and four assists from Cooper Dunham; and a goal and two dimes from Ben Campbell.
Head coach Daniel Ritchie’s group moved the ball extremely well in the attacking zone, connecting on pass after pass before waiting patiently for the right shot and taking it. On numerous occasions, the Falcons would whip a pass to a cutting attackman and the latter would pop off a one-timer-like shot that Gloucester goalie Michael Quinn simply had no time to react to.
“We were really good at moving the ball today,” said Ritchie, his team now 3-1 and winners of three straight. “I think the first couple of games you’re figuring things out, figuring out where guys are going to be at their best. We’ve made a few adjustments after the first couple of games and now I think the guys are starting to settle into their roles a little bit.
“Our attack with Mason (Gadbois), Tyler (Moody) and Cooper (Dunham), they just work so well together,” added the coach. “They know how to cut, find openings … they just know where each other is going to be and they connect on easy shots in the end.”
Costa would score his second goal of the game off a feed from Sam Sanfilippo early in the fourth quarter to make it a 13-4 game, but Danvers closed with five straight to win going away. It didn’t help that both Danvers’ goalies, Lincoln Smith and Connor Dembowski, played brilliant between the posts. They each played one half and came up with a number of impressive saves.
Gloucester, meanwhile, was without its starting netminder, Jaeden Chipperini, and Quinn stepped up with some big saves in the opening half.
“I was really proud of him in making his first start,” said Kennedy. “I thought he did a really good job with quarterbacking our young defense.”
Will Linn added an assist in the loss, as did Mahoney.
Coach Kennedy knows his team still has plenty of room to grow, especially with such a young defensive core. Friday’s loss was nothing more than a learning experience for the Fishermen as they dive into the meat of their schedule, and the hope is to flush this one quickly and shift their focus to Monday’s home clash with Swampscott.
“Our defense is pretty inexperienced so we’ll work on more communication, having the 1-slide. I feel like if we had that down that it definitely would’ve been closer,” said Kennedy. “But the guys will be ready for Swampscott. We’re not just gonna sit on this; they’re still hungry.”