Weekly Sports Roundup: Boys Lacrosse Earns a Pair of Wins

It was April Vacation week at Lynnfield High and the athletic teams got a chance to get some early action in while the rest of the students were comfortably enjoying some time off.

Newburyport 15, Lynnfield 3 (Monday)

A quiet start to the week for the boy’s lacrosse as Joe Papagni simply stated that his team was “outplayed” by Newburyport. AJ Roberto, Matt Kelly and Nico Decesare all scored a goal in the lopsided loss.

Lynnfield 7, Ipswich 5

This one started out like it would be another lopsided loss after Lynnfield fell down 3-0, but they rallied to hold Ipswich scoreless in the second half. Nick Crith made 10 saves and was pivotal in the second half.

AJ Roberto and Travis Panzini each scored a pair of goals, and Papagni said that the rally wouldn’t have been possible without the spirited play by Panzini in the second quarter.

Lynnfield 12, Melrose 8

This one was the AJ Roberto show. He finished with seven goals and one assist, while Blake Strader added three goals and an assist.

Papagni said he was able to get a lot of other players some experience, but ultimately if his team is going to win he’s going to need more players step up around the very talented Roberto.

“We seem to be standing around and watching the AJ Roberto show,” said Papagni. “Kids are getting in the habit of watching him and I need production from other players.”

Peter Marinelli was waiting for his offense to erupt this season, and he got just that over the two games in vacation week. Lynnfield played Nazareth twice and beat them by a combined score of 35-0.

The first game was a 21-0 win in five innings of play, due to the mercy rule. Rachele Milordy pitched four strong innings, giving up zero runs and striking out six over that span. She scattered two hits, while Kelsey Mancini went 2-for-5 with three RBI. Julia Goldstein went 2-for-3 with two RBI. 

The second game was a 14-0 win. Mel Mancinelli struck out 16 batters in a complete-game, one-hit performance. She also brought some offense to the game with a 4-for-5 showing with three RBI. Taylor Reska went 2-for-3, and the offense scored eight runs in the final two innings.

“In the first two games we played we were having trouble scoring runs,” said the head coach. “It’s just obviously something we are working on now.”