IPSWICH — Finn Wright was quick to say it wasn’t easy following his team’s 17-1 second round playoff demolition of visiting Lunenburg Wednesday afternoon at Jack Welch Stadium.
But it sure looked that way as the Ipswich boys lacrosse team dominated at both ends of the field.
With the first of his four goals on the day, Wright became the first player in program history to reach 200 career goals. Early in the third quarter when he tallied again, that gave up a new school record of 266 points, besting the mark of former state champion Kilian Morrissey from 2018.
“I think we just meshed today and everyone was really dialed in and focused,” the left-handed Wright said after the fourth seeded Tigers improved to 13-4. “We came in ready to go, off rip, got an early lead and ran with it.
“Honestly, the scoring record never really crossed my mind,” he added. “When I was out (with a midseason ailment), the only thing I was focused on was getting healthy, and when I was back the only think I was focused on was winning games and getting us far into the state tournament. If I can hold onto the record for a while, it’ll be cool telling my kids in the future. But it’s a team effort at the end of the day, and I’m grateful and blessed for my role on this team to be in a position to be the scorer a lot of the time.”
Senior Christian Gianakakis won the opening faceoff for Ipswich, raced downfield and scored eight seconds in … and the rout was on. It was 7-0 Tigers after one quarter, 11-0 at halftime and running time the rest of the way. If not for the terrific work by Lunenburg goaltender Cam Jacobs (17 saves), this one could’ve been much, much worse.
“There was never a doubt in my mind we’d win this game,” said long stick midfielder and captain Louie Harrington, who was recently named the Cape Ann League’s Player of the Year for a second straight season. “I didn’t think it’d be 17-1, but I thought we’d win by a decent margin.
“I’ve had a feeling all season that we’d be going far, and today we came out firing. I don’t think Christian lost a faceoff all day, and we got any mistakes we were making out of the way early, then really settled in and kept rolling. It was nice.”
Harrington had a goal of his own as well as four assists.
Joining the scoring parade were junior Trevor Manning, who had a game-high five goals; sophomore Gavin Pulsifer, who netted a pair; 10th grader Travis Wilson, who had one goal and two assists; senior Luke Wile with one goal and one helper; and solo tallies from both Gianakakis and fellow senior Matt Gouzie.
Defensively, Connor Wright pitched a shutout for three quarters, stopping four shots before sophomore Matthew Colitti came in for the final quarter.
“The thought of a shutout was there; you just didn’t want to say ‘shutout’ out loud,” the team’s third captain, defender Will Gromko, stated. “But Connor was awesome for three quarters, and Matt made a few nice saves when he came in.
“Defensively we just startled them on their first offensive possession. Sawyer (Gromko) played it perfectly on their kid No. 9 (Andrew Nicosia); when he tried to dodge on the 20, Sawyer locked down and didn’t let him do anything. And Connor was terrific all day: great looks, great clears, great saves.”
Long-time head coach Glenn Foster, whose squad has advanced to the Division 4 quarterfinals for the second straight season and will host the winner of Thursday’s Winthrop/East Bridgewater tilt on either Friday or Saturday, praised his senior class for what they’ve done both on and off the field this season.
“They’re one of the few classes I’ve had where we’ve had a bunch of guys — Finn, Luke, Louie, Will, Christian — who started as freshmen. That class has gone to the playoffs all four years, going one step further each time. We’ve been sniffing at the door for four years now, and it’s a tribute to our seniors for how well they’ve played and showing the younger guys the ropes and how we do things.
“They’re seniors and have business written all over their faces,” Foster added. “This team has really jelled into a formidable group.”
Contact Phil Stacey
@PhilStacey_SN