ITEM PHOTO: KATIE MORRISON
Revere’s Rickie Briana, left, battles with Saugus’ Kevin Cucuzza during a game on Thursday afternoon.
By KATIE MORRISON
SAUGUS – Last season, the Revere boys lacrosse team finished several games under .500 with lots of work to do.
After winning their seventh straight game on Thursday against Saugus, 8-2, at Stackpole Field, the Patriots improved to 12-5. They’ve already clinched a tournament berth, and they don’t intend to stop there.
“We don’t want to just be in, we want to improve our seeding,” said coach Steve Magno. “We could hopefully get a home game and better our draw.”.
Taking down the Sachems (3-8) Thursday was another step in the right direction.
It was a fairly competitive game through the first half. Revere struck first, but Saugus’ Dante McGrane got it back for the Sachems soon after. Magno called a time out to regroup, and Revere’s Mike Dellorfano put the Patriots back on top before the end of the first.
Saugus ruled possession during the opening minutes of the second quarter, but couldn’t find the back of the net. Revere’s Steve Noel netted one on Revere’s first possession of the quarter to give the Patriots a 3-1 lead.
Saugus attack Stephen Wright got the Sachems back within one late in the second, but another goal from Revere gave them a 4-2 lead at the half, and they didn’t look back.
Goals from Eddie Sullivan and Dan Muller in the second half propelled the Patriots, but perhaps the bigger story was freshman goalie Cam Mazza, who shut down the Saugus offense.
“Goaltending was excellent, our goalie has been on fire,” said Magno.
Scoring goals has been a weak spot for the Sachems all year long, and Thursday’s game was more of the same. Saugus averages slightly under four goals a game, and coach Rob Scuzzarella acknowledged that if you can’t score, you can’t win.
“That’s been the story of the year. Our defense has played really well, but our offense is slow, and we haven’t been getting much production,” said Scuzzarella. “Any time you score only two goals in a lacrosse game, it’s tough to win.”
Scuzzarella said that while they gave Mazza plenty of work, some of their shots resulted in easy saves. When a goalie gets easy saves, he gets confidence. A talented goalie who is playing confidently is like kryptonite to a struggling offense, something the Sachems witnessed in the second half.
There were bright spots for Saugus, however. Their faceoff man, Jake DeMonte, had a good day, especially after the Sachems were unable to win a single faceoff in their last game. Goalie Jeremy Tringale was strong against a Revere offense that can score, and the defense kept Saugus in the game. But penalties were a killer, and sometimes, the Sachems lack of lacrosse experience showed.
The Patriots started slow, partially due to their inexperience on grass fields, partially due to missing a starter and partially due to poor shot selection. But Revere figured things out.
“We’re getting better at getting open, but we need to get better in our transition from offense to defense,” said Magno. “But the guys dug deep today, we’ve played a lot of lacrosse, I’m very proud of how they played.”
The Patriots have already shattered the program record for wins, which previously stood at nine, with three games to play, and they’re showing no signs of slowing down.
“It’s not often you see urban kids who are excelling in lacrosse,” said Magno. “They’re a good bunch of kids, they work hard every day. I’m very proud of them.”