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Campbell's OT tally sends Prep lacrosse to semis

Thursday, June, 05 By Matt Jenkins
Staff writer

DANVERS -- Even though it was overtime, the final timeout called by John Roy was more about settling his offense down, getting the right personel on the field and going over the basics.

It was critical for St. John's to take care of the ball, be patient, and make sure everyone didn't stand around and watch senior captain Mark Scalise operate.

The message was received loud and clear, especially by sophomore attack Garrett Campbell who cut from the weak side, caught a feed from Scalise and delivered a top-shelf goal for a 14-13 win over Andover with 50 seconds remaining in the first overtime of a Division 1 East quarterfinal game yesterday at Cronin Field.

The Prep, which will host Billerica on Saturday in the semifinals (time TBA), runs its offense through Scalise, a Harvard-bound lacrosse whiz who is an equally talented dodger, finisher and feeder.

Roy definitely wanted Scalise to get a touch on what proved to be the game's final possession, but sometimes he has to hold his breath in those situations.

"It's good to have Mark with the ball because he's a great feeder, he knows the game, and he's got great vision," Roy said of his star player who was questionable coming in because of a sprained ankle. "Sometimes the rest of the offense has a tendency to watch him, which can also be a problem. It's all about getting them to keep moving when has the ball."

Campbell, a talented finisher who will likely become the Prep's No. 1 offensive option next year, rarely has to be reminded of what to do to score a goal, especially when the ball is in Scalise's possession.

"It was kind of a broken play," Campbell explained. "Mark started to dodge and my guy kind of turned around. I saw laces behind him and cut around the net. I've been getting a lot of goals in practice that way. I just grabbed it, turned and looked in the top left corner. I put it right there."

Campbell's goal, his sixth of the game, ended what had been a give-and-take battle and provided some relief for Roy, who had visions of another season ending with an overtime loss in the playoffs.

The Eagles (18-2) were dealt overtime losses in each of the last three postseasons | 11-10 to Billerica last year, 11-10 to Malden Catholic in 2006, and 7-6 to Waltham in 2005.

The confident Eagles were looking to put an end to things when Roy called for the overtime timeout.

"The talk (in the huddle) was that this game had gone on too long," Campbell said. "Obviously there are nerves in overtime, but if you want the game bad enough and in a game like this where we've never made it to the semifinals, we had to get it done."

Andover put St. John's on its heels early, opening with a 4-1 first quarter thanks to two goals apiece from Peter Hanson and Joe Lamagna.

The Eagles didn't let things get out of hand after that, scoring five straight goals for a 6-4 advantage. Andover closed the half out-scoring St. John's 3-1 for a tie game at the break.

Andover coach Wayne Puglisi hoped his team could come out strong, and while the quick start definitely shook the Eagles, it didn't cause them to panic.

"I saw them against Chelmsford and the only other time I saw them play was against Duxbury. I knew they had the ability to go up big, jump on a team and score a lot of points," Puglisi said. "I think we saw it in spurts today, but the huge thing was that when we got out to a 4-1 lead it put a little thought process into their heads. It didn't necessarily panic them, but we were hoping they would get a little rattled by it."

The teams more or less traded goals throughout the second half, but Andover twice tied the game in the fourth quarter.

St. John's took a 12-10 lead on Campbell's fifth goal, but the Warriors answered with goals from Brendan Hughes and Hanson. Then, Scalise's open net goal after a loose ball squirted in his direction gave the Prep a 13-12 advantage with 4:21 to go.

It looked like it would hold up until Josh Tores completed a feed from Lamagna with 40 seconds to go.

There's no room for error in overtime and both teams felt pressure.

St. John's defenseman Brogan O'Connor came up with a huge check for a change of possession in OT. That play set up the Eagles for their game-winner.

Scalise led St. John's with five goals and five assists, while Campbell had six goals and two assists. Will Duryea added three goals for the Eagles. Hanson powered Andover with six goals, Lamagna had three goals and three assists, and Hughes chipped in two goals and two assists.

"Did I feel (the pressure)? I didn't know what I was going to say in the timeout," Roy said. "I know from history that it's over and I'm not going to see these guys again in this capacity after today if we had lost. I was thinking about all of those things. It's just nice to be able to have another practice."