C-C Boys Lacrosse Beats Newton North In Overtime

For the first 24 minutes of Saturday afternoon's game, neither the Newton North boys lacrosse team nor Concord-Carlisle could find the back of the net.

And after another 24 minutes transpired, both teams managed only two goals each sending the contest into overtime. There, the Tigers fell victim to a Matt Carrol game-winning shot less than two minutes into the period.  

But for Newton North head coach Bussy Adam, the 3-2 loss to C-C was the result of giveaways.

“We turned the ball over I don’t know how many times,” he said. “You can’t do that. Our defense played outstanding. Our goalie played outstanding. Our offense needs to protect the ball better. We can’t be turning the ball over in critical parts of the game. That’s what it came down to.”

The defeat marks back-to-back losses for the Tigers and drops their record to 9-6. Meanwhile, the Patriots improve to 16-1 on the season.

“It was a great baseball game,” C-C head coach Tom Dalicandro joked afterwards. “I knew it was going to be a defensive struggle. I think both teams played great defense; both teams have good goalies. It would have been nice if we could have scored more goals, but I thought we’d have this type of game.”

Newton North possessed the ball for the majority of the first half, and also had two man-up opportunities during that stretch, but a stifling C-C defense and solid goaltending from Steven Saul prevented the Tigers from scoring.

“You have to credit Concord-Carlisle,” said Adam. “They did a nice job defensively. They denied some of the areas we were trying to get into.”

The scoreless contest finally gained offensive traction in the third quarter as Patriot Kevin Delehey netted a 20-foot bounce shot at the 8:07 mark. And as the period started to wind down, Tiger Zach McAuliffe scored on a turnaround shot during a man-up opportunity.

Less than two minutes into the fourth quarter, McAuliffe tallied his second goal of the game when he beat Patriot Doug Gouchoe, giving Newton North the 2-1 advantage. Gouchoe had replaced Saul to start the second half because Dalicandro had promised both would play.

But the Tigers’ lead would not endure as Delehey emulated McAullife’s accomplishment netting his second goal of the game at the 4:42 mark. The tally was the equalizer that send the game into overtime where the Patriots would earn the victory.

“It could have gone either way,” said Dalicandro. “We won the faceoff in overtime, kid took a nice shot. We are happy that we won. And we know we have some things to work on.”