SWAMPSCOTT — A fast start paid dividends for the Marblehead boys lacrosse team Tuesday.
The Magicians scored the first six goals and never looked back, rolling to a 19-9 win over Northeastern Conference rival Swampscott at Blocksidge Field.
“The guys looked really good on offense, and that allowed us to get off to a great start,” said Marblehead coach John Wilkens. “We still have to clean some things up defensively, we had a couple of breakdowns here and there, but overall you can’t be too upset with 19 goals.”
The Magicians were led by Will Shull, who had a huge game with five goals and two assists. Sam Thompson was right behind with three goals and two assists, while Thomas Quigley had three goals and one assist. Adam Zamansky had two goals and one assist, Christian Penkrat had two goals and Loch Sheridan had one goal and one assist. Yosef Ngowe, Jacob Garfield and Mark Paquette each scored one goal.
For Swampscott, Kyle Fitzgerald had a seven-point game (one goal, six assists) to lead the offense. Justin DeSalvo and Vincent Palmer each scored two goals, while Zach Pierce had one goal and one assist. Christian Pierro, Ethan Eichler and Cole Hamernick each had one goal.
“I saw a bunch of guys who just wouldn’t quit out there, which is a positive,” said Swampscott coach Geoff Beckett. “We only have about 15 guys on varsity, and some of those guys are new to the game. They’ve been moving around and stepping up with guys injured and battling every step of the way, and you can’t ask for much more than that as a coach.”
The Magicians came out firing in the first quarter, taking a 6-0 lead in the blink of an eye after scoring three times in the first 2:20 of the game and then continuing to pile on. Quigley scored twice in the quarter for Marblehead, while Thompson, Shull, Sheridan and Zamansky each had one goal.
Despite the poor play in the opening quarter, Swampscott found momentum right away in the second. Just 25 seconds in, DeSalvo took a feed from Pierce and buried the shot to make it 6-1. Eichler’s goal just over two minutes later made it 6-2, and it looked like the Big Blue were primed for a rally to get back in. But the momentum evaporated quickly, as Marblehead got a goal from Quigley 10 seconds later and then two more (one each from Thompson and Paquette) to make it a seven-goal game as the half wound to a close. DeSalvo scored his second of the game with 2:15 left to get one back, but Marblehead still led 9-3 at the break.
The third quarter started off just like the second, with Swampscott scoring two quick goals (one from Palmer and one from Fitzgerald) to get back in it at 9-5. That was as close as the Big Blue could get, as Marblehead got a goal from Shull one minute later to slow down the rally. Swampscott then got a goal from Pierce to return it to a four-goal deficit, but Marblehead responded with a three-goal run (two from Shull and one from Garfield) to start to pull away. Hamernick found the back of the net for Swampscott with 2.2 seconds left in the third to make it a 13-7 game going into the final quarter.
The Magicians were able to effectively put the game away within the first two minutes of the fourth quarter, scoring three times (Zamansky, Thompson and Shull) to extend it to a 16-7 lead. PIerro’s goal with just over nine minutes to go got one back for Swampscott, but that was as close as the Big Blue would get the rest of the way. Penkrat scored twice and Ngowe scored once to round out the scoring for Marblehead, while Palmer scored with two minutes left to round out the scoring for Swampscott.
The Big Blue (5-6) will try to get back on the winning side of things Thursday when they take on Gloucester (6).
Marblehead (9-2) is back at it Thursday (4:30) with another tough NEC game against Peabody.