ITEM PHOTO BY KATIE MORRISON
Swampscott’s Andrew Dove tries to keep the ball away from Lynn’s Brian Clougherty.
By HAROLD RIVERA
SALEM — After a tough loss to Bishop Fenwick on Saturday, the Swampscott boys lacrosse team was hungry to get back in the win column. Monday at Bertram Field, the Big Blue bounced back with a 16-4 win over the Lynn Jets.
The Jets scored the first goal of the game to seize an early 1-0 lead, but after that it was all Swampscott the rest of the way.
Quinn Brinkler scored early to give the Jets the 1-0 advantage in the opening quarter. Swampscott responded with four consecutive goals before Lynn could manage to get one back thanks to Matt Moorehouse.
Swampscott’s Nick Kersten fired three shots into the back of the net in the quarter, the last of which was scored with 28.6 seconds to play. Kersten propelled Swampscott to a 5-2 lead after one.
“We were kind of slow coming out, for whatever reason,” Swampscott coach Todd Pierce said. “They guys knew what they had to do, they had to play a team game.”
The game didn’t get much better for the Jets in the second quarter. Brendan Laundry found the back of the net just 15 seconds into the period to put the Big Blue ahead at 6-2. Andrew Dove followed with Swampscott’s seventh goal of the game ninety seconds later to make it a five-goal lead.
Jack Leahy, Kersten, Laundry and freshman Kyle Fitzgerald each added a goal to the Swampscott lead, which stood comfortably at 11-2 at halftime.
“The whole first quarter, I thought we played really well,” Jets coach Peter Pappagianopoulos said. “As the game went on, we fell off. We had a bad second quarter and by the third quarter we were too far out of it to make it interesting. We didn’t play a good second quarter skill-wise but we played hard until the end.”
Pappagianopoulos added, “You can’t give a team like that (Swampscott) a lead that big and expect to climb back into it.”
The Big Blue controlled the tempo of the game and maintained possession after allowing the early goal to the Jets.
“We shared the ball,” Pierce said. “Lacrosse is a game where it’s the best example of teamwork when guys move the ball. That’s why I like to see us pass.”
The third quarter went scoreless for the first ten minutes, until Lynn’s Ryan Clark broke the ice. Ryan’s goal cut into Swampscott’s lead at 11-3.
The Jets’ rally was short- lived as Swampscott got the goal back on a score by Russell Paster with 24.6 seconds left in the quarter. The Big Blue were ahead comfortably, 12-3, after three.
Sam Ennis struck through with a goal for the Jets midway through the fourth quarter, but by then Swampscott was well on its way to the 16-4 victory.
Kersten was the star of the afternoon with a four-goal performance.
“It’s nice to see because he’s been our third attackman,” Pierce said. “The last two games, just because of the way the defense has worked out, he’s been asked to step up because of our game plan. He has done great these last two games. I just like the way he moves off the ball and finds open spots.”
Lynn’s Chandler Donovan made his first start at goalie.
“A couple of our guys stepped up into big roles,” Pappagianopoulos said. “Chandler worked hard in the net. His first time ever playing goalie was today and he did a good job filling in.”
Both teams are back in action on Thursday when Lynn visits Winthrop and Swampscott visits Everett.