C-C Lacrosse Beats Beverly in Crunch Time

The Concord-Carlisle High School boys' lacrosse team scored four "emotional" goals, as Coach Tom Dalicandro called them, against Beverly High.

With time ticking down, the second-seeded Patriots scored one goal in the final minute of the first quarter, two in the final minute of the first half and one more with 1 minute, 10 seconds to play in the third quarter.

Concord-Carlisle capitalized on the emotional high for a 14-6 win over No. 7 Beverly in the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) Division II East quarterfinals before about 250 fans at Doug White Field on Tuesday.

The Patriots (17-3) move on to the semifinals, to be played Friday at 5 p.m. at Lincoln-Sudbury High. Concord-Carlisle will face the winner of No. 3 Medfield and No. 11 Wellesley, who played a late-afternoon quarterfinal game on Tuesday.

The big boost for the Patriots were the goals juniors Cole Fisher and Ben Lesser scored in the final 46 seconds of the second period. First, Fisher spun and shot from the middle of the restraining box and Lesser followed by beating the buzzer with 3 seconds to spare.

That turned a slim 4-2 lead into a commanding 6-2 halftime advantage for Concord-Carlisle.

"Those are big goals," Dalicandro said. "Those are momentum goals and back-breakers from (Beverly's) perspective. That separated the game. At 6-2 I think they start to doubt whether or not they can come back. I think those two (goals) were huge."

Dalicandro joked that it usually takes his squad at least two games to score 14 times. In fact, the 14 goals the Patriots scored against Beverly were a season high. Their previous high was 13, scored against Bedford in the season opener on April 6.

"That was about the best game we've played all year, no doubt," Dalicandro said. "On both sides."

Fisher paced the Patriots with four goals. He also had two assists for a game-high six points. Lesser added three goals and an assist.

Sophomore Jackson Finigan had two goals, while sophomore Mike O'Brien, junior Seth Bird (two assists), junior Brendan Gay, senior Drew Vanasse and sophomore Chris Walker-Jacks (one assist) had one apiece.

O'Brien opened the scoring with 8:53 to go in the first quarter, but the Patriots' offense went dry until Walker-Jacks scored the first of Concord-Carlisle's crunch-time goals with 46 seconds to play. That broke a 1-all tie.

It appeared the Patriots got another before the buzzer, but the officials said a bounce shot clanked off the left post with 5 seconds to play in the first.

Fisher and Lesser gave Concord-Carlisle the momentum heading into halftime, but Beverly soon grabbed some back midway through the third quarter. Down 8-2, the Panthers scored twice to pull within four and re-energize their sideline with 5:39 to play.

Concord-Carlisle responded by ripping off four straight goals to close out the quarter. Gay started the flurry with 4:58 remaining and was followed by scores from Vanasse (3:44) and Finigan (2:20). Bird capped the run by stuffing a close-range shot inside the left post with 1:10 left in the third.

"I thought the guys responded great," Dalicandro said, of his team shaking off Beverly's two quick goals.

The two teams split the fourth quarter with two goals apiece, but the game, both emotionally and on the field, was already won by Concord-Carlisle.