Algonquin Boys Come Up Short in Final

Coming into the Division 2 boys lacrosse final last night at Foley Stadium the game looked like a toss-up on paper.

, the Central Massachusetts champions, entered with a 22-1 record. Concord-Carlisle, the Eastern Massachusetts champions, entered at 21-0.

By game’s end though, one thing was certain: Concord-Carlisle was the best team in Division 2.

The Patriots scored the first seven goals of the game and cruised to a 13-3 win to cap a perfect season.

“I am just so unbelievably proud of this team,” Concord-Carlisle senior Jackson Finigan said. “This is amazing; we just finished a 22-0 season, and we just played a really great team and we just came out firing on all cylinders.”

Finigan scored a whopping six goals to lead all scorers, including three in the first quarter. Finigan was quick to credit the entire for making his exploits possible.

“I’m just happy that I could get the looks that I had, and it all starts with the spacing in our offense,” Finigan said. “I didn’t do it all by myself. It was really nice. It was an unbelievably fun game.”

Finigan said that Algonquin was crazy to put a short-stick defender on freshman Will Blumenberg, and the super frosh made the Tomahawks pay.

Blumenberg scored five goals and won several faceoffs for the Patriots.

“I was trying to focus on the ‘W’,” Blumenberg said. “I was just taking shots on the cage and they were going [in].”

As prolific as the offense was, Concord’s defense was just as, if not, stronger. Led by senior Henry Bumpus, the defense slid well from start to finish and held the Tomahawks scoreless until midway through the third quarter.

Bumpus, who will play football at Brown University next fall, said that the defense was able to play as well as it did because of familiarity.

“We as a group do a great job of working with each other,” Bumpus said. “We know how each other play, and we can tell when someone’s going to get beat because we play together so much. The defensive middies did a phenomenal job.”

Sophomore Mike Wood scored a pair of goals for Algonquin in the second half. Junior Ryan Stassi also scored for the Tomahawks.

Algonquin coach Rich Luongo gave Concord credit, but said that his team may have gotten caught in the moment.

“They’re a good team and we knew it,” Algonquin coach Rich Luongo said. “We were hoping we could play with them in the first quarter, run a little bit. We played a good three quarters after the first quarter. I think we got a little too much caught up in the hype.”

Luongo was also quick to praise his senior class, which had helped advance to the team to two consecutive state championship games.

“Great senior class,” Luongo said. “The kids worked hard all year. Awesome; awesome helping us lead this program.”

After coming up short in recent years, Gatorade-soaked Concord-Carlisle coach Tom Dalicandro was nothing but smiles after the win.

“It’s surreal,” Dalicandro said. “It really feels good; it was a lot of fun. Second half I think we came out with three goals right away and separated it and made it easy as a coach. I enjoyed it. It’s been a long time as a coach that I’ve been able to watch a game and just enjoy it and not go crazy.”