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Sachems upend Newburyport

Friday, April, 26 By Jeff Hamrick

NEWBURYPORT – Having already posted a solid season start, the Pentucket boys lacrosse squad expects many more wins over the next five weeks. But few will prove more satisfying than Friday’s victory – especially for the Sachem seniors.

Making amends for three-years losing streak to Newburyport, Pentucket jumped to a quick start and held off a mid-game charge before controlling the fourth period in a 10-6 victory over the Clippers.

“It’s just been a great week for all of us,” said senior Matt Keeves, who got the Sachems on the board early and finished with a game-high four goals. “We have had great focus and had a great week of practice. We wanted (Newburyport) bad. This is a great win for our senior year.”

Keeves needed just 55 seconds to put Pentucket (6-2) ahead for good. Kevin Kershaw made it 2-0 with 8:55 remaining before Newburyport (3-5) closed to within one on a Hunter McCoy score two minutes later.

Pentucket’s Nick Lamattina closed out the first quarter, converting a pass from Kershaw for a 3-1 lead.

“We weren’t hesitating and were driving to the net,” Keeves said. “We didn’t feel out our matchups like we have in a couple games when we didn’t have a fast start. So, we were motivated to go out and get a fast start.”

Keeves provided a three-goal lead early in the second before Kershaw once again fed Lamattina for a 5-1 lead midway through the quarter.

“Offensively we had some guys winning one-on-one match ups, which always helps,” Newburyport coach Dan Leary said. “But I like the way the guys were sharing the ball. At times guys stepped up on their own and took it, but we had a lot of assisted goals in the first half … we want to get more people involved.”

The Clippers avoided going scoreless in the second when Jake Palma scored with 18 seconds remaining. Newburyport offset two third-quarter scores by Keeves with three of their own provided by Zach Lever, Max Katavolos and Palma.

But after seeing his team’s lead shrink to two at 7-5, Josh Smith righted the Sachem ship on an unassisted goal with 1:45 left.

Pentucket controlled the clock in the fourth and used a pair of Kershaw goals to reclaim a five-score advantage at 10-5.

It was more than enough support for senior goalie Jack Queenan, who had nine of his 15 saves in the second half. In the second, he denied a Lever shot from close range and also turned back a Katavolos attempt off a rebound of another save.

“He was really focused today,” Leary said of his keeper. “I know last year, he thought he didn’t have his best game of the year here at Newburyport. So, it was nice for him to really stand up. And when he’s going like that it gets the rest of the team fired up and playing on a different level.”

Newburyport closed out the game’s scoring on the third goal by Palma, who has nine in the past two games.

“Nothing comes easy against Pentucket,” Clipper coach Josh Wedge said. “We have not been too focused the last couple days. I think we were a little happy with ourselves after (winning 16-6) Tuesday (against North Reading) and we weren’t ready to play today. We’re not good enough yet to come out with a half effort.”