C-C Boys Lacrosse Pulls Away from L-S

While coach Tom Dallcandro saw a slim margin of difference in his game against Lincoln-Sudbury, the Patriots always seemed to have control.

Never trailing, Concord-Carlisle boys lacrosse defeated host Lincoln-Sudbury 7-4 on Tuesday.

“The difference was minute, but we won a lot of ground balls,” said C-C coach Dallcandro. “Right now we have been really scrappy to grab every ground ball.”

The Patriots (10-1) battled with L-S (4-5) in first half to grab a slim 4-3, but scored two goals opening the second half to put themselves in the drivers seat.

C-C's first second half goal came at 10:25 off a behind the net pass to Brendan Gay who finish cut side.

“We have been struggle on offense so we have been trying to get back to controlling the ball,” said Dallcandro. “We have to dodge, move it a few times and finish it.”

A minute later, a behind the net isolation shot from Matt Carroll bounced of the helmet of L-S junior goalie Dan Shaughnessy and rolled under his hands to go just over the goal line. Warriors' senior Dylan Pike responded in ten seconds to bring the score to 6-4 by ripping a deep goal off the face off.

“We wanted to dodge and get to the net, because they were sliding early,” said L-S coach Brian Vona. “We are also looking to drive and pop off the crease. A couple of the things we did worked, but you have to work all four quarters.”

Battling to even the game, L-S senior Connor Hall managed to catch teammate sophomore Henry Guild open in front of the net at 5:30 in the fourth quarter, but referees called Guild with a crease violation. Two minutes later, C-C goalie Doug Gouche made a quick save on a one-on-one with Pike.

A long side of the net sweep for a goal by C-C's Mike O'Brien out of a timeout gave the Patriots a game clinching 7-4 lead at 3:14.

“It is been our calling card to be a strong defensive team and this was a good test for us cause L-S can score double digits any game,” said Dallcandro.

“Overall we did not move the ball well enough on offense and there goalie made five or six hall of fame saves,” added Vona.

C-C's Carroll lead the game in scoring with three goals and an assist. L-S's Hall had one goal and an assist.

“Carroll is a great finisher who has been getting two to two and a half goals a game,” said Dallcandro.

“I bet (Hall) is the best attacker they have played this year,” added Vona.

C-C had a slim shots-on-goal advantage of 19 to 18.

Patriots' goalie Gouche had 14 saves with a 77.77 save percentage, while L-S's Shaughnessy had 12 saves with a 63.16 save percentage.

“We have good goaltenders who play really good team defense,” said Dallcandro. “To hold that team to four is unbelievable.”