Milton Academy Lacrosse Holds on to Lead to Beat Groton

The victory may have looked like a trip down easy street for Milton Academy in the box score, but its 10-5 win yesterday afternoon over the Groton School on a wet, soggy home field was no walk in the park.

The Mustangs (9-5) jumped out to an early 4-0 lead, but the Zebras clawed their way back into the game before halftime, forcing Milton Academy head coach Corey Simonson to give a spirited speech to get his team back on track.

"We had to give them a little pep talk at halftime," said Simonson. "It was 4-2 they were fired up, and you got to go back and get on a run."

His team responded with five tallies, while only surrendering two goals in the third frame. Nick Gagnon got the scoring started at 10:54 of the third on a nice wrap around to beat goalie Peter Mumford, and at 10:27, Scott Sewall's launch was so hard it snapped Mumford's stick and went into the net. 

Patrick McNally put home two of his team-leading three goals — at 4:42 and 4:17 respectively — and the Zebras never got back into the game

Simonson said his halftime speech worked, but the message delivered by his senior leaders to the team in the huddle may have been just as effective.

"I think some of our seniors got in there and said this is still a game but we can easily put them back out of it," said Simonson. "So, luckily we were able to do that."

The home team jumped out to the early lead thanks to captain Scott O'Leary. The attacker was a force on the draws and controlled most of the play in the opening minutes. O'Leary had a hand in three of the first four goals for the Mustangs, scoring two and assisting on another.

"Scott is fantastic on the face-offs," the coach said. "He definitely is the captain of the offense. They were shutting him off with the short stick and they were trying to take him out of it. I think that was a big reason why we weren't able to score for 19 minutes in the first half."

The Zebras gained momentum back on two man-up goals from Joshua Imhoff and Connor MacKenzie in second quarter, and the visiting team showed some signs of life.

"We buckled down, played some good defense and had some good opportunities," said Groton coach Robert Low. "We made it a game at the half and they came out and scored a couple quick ones. … We hurt ourselves and Milton did a nice job of taking advantage of our miscues."

The Mustangs sit in the middle of the pack in the league standings, and have a chance to play spoiler in a match against long-time rival Nobles on Friday.