RallyNorth.net

Quinn's five goals push Gloucester past Swampscott

Thursday, May, 01 By Richard Slate
Staff writer

In an early season filled with adversity, the Gloucester boys lacrosse team is starting to hit its stride after winning its third straight game.

The Fishermen held off Swampscott, 7-6, at O'Maley Field behind senior midfielder Adam Quinn's game-high five goals. The win was vital for Gloucester, who climbed back to the .500 mark as it tries to qualify for the postseason.

"It was a big win for us," said Gloucester (4-4) head coach Drew Dominick, "in high school sports, you learn to roll with the punches."

Some of the obstacles Gloucester has dealt with thus far included an injury to goalie Bradley Robertson during hockey season (forcing junior Shane Stephenson into action), Quinn was gone last week on the Gloucester High band trip and most recently, senior attackman Jeremy Fanning might have contracted mono.

"The difference in the game today, obviously they have a great player in Quinn but we couldn't win any face-offs and we couldn't get anything going," admitted Swampscott head coach Josh Field. "I think we won one face-off and they had one illegal procedure which gave us the ball. It was absolutely a possession game and they took advantage of it."

 "I'm real proud of our attack, losing Fanning is a huge deal." Dominick said. "He's a senior leader, a confident player, the guy that handles the ball. It's tough when you lose someone like that but I'm so proud of Geoff Kennedy, Joe Falzarano and Marc Buotte (1 goal, 2 assists)."

Against the Big Blue (6-6), Quinn scored the first five goals for his team but then had to deal with a strange penalty call. Shortly after a Swampscott player was called for an illegal stick (a pinched head) in the second quarter, Swampscott asked for a stick check on Quinn. The first time around, the referees deemed it legal. For some reason, it was checked a second time in the fourth quarter and strangely enough, it was found to be too short.

Quinn was just as shocked as the rest of his teammates and coaches to hear that news.

"It didn't shrink during the game," wondered the senior, "but it ended up not being a big deal (since they killed the penalty) and I used it for motivation."

Multiple times this season, Gloucester has started slow which has led to some close wins or heart-breaking losses. Yesterday was a change in that familiar script as the Fishermen jumped on the Big Blue early.

"We came out really fired up in the first half," noted Quinn. "In the second, we made some stupid mistakes and we were running out of gas a little bit and let up three straight goals."

Quinn scored twice to put Gloucester up 2-0 before Ben Wollersheid answered for Swampscott. Another Quinn goal off a dodge in front of the net made it 3-1 Gloucester after the first period.

A beautiful goal by Quinn off a jump shot pushed the lead to 4-1 before the break. The Fishermen added two more-from Quinn and senior midfielder Nick White-before Swampscott woke up. A.J. Zarinsky and John Poth cut it to 6-3 to end the third.

Buotte scored the clinching goal early in the fourth. It was a man-up strike off an assist from Kennedy. From there, Swampscott blitzed Gloucester with three straight goals but time ran out before the Big Blue could tie it up.

Sophomore defenseman Jared Wright had a key strip and ground ball late in the game while junior defenseman Dylan Morrissey was a force all game. Stephenson made eight saves in the win.

Surprisingly, before such an impressive individual performance Quinn didn't even feel right.

"I wasn't feeling too hot before the game. I just restrung this stick so I didn't know how it would throw. I was having a little trouble handling, I kept dropping it."

With Fanning out for the foreseeable future, Gloucester will have to play to its strengths-tight defense and time of possession. With that said, having a dependable face-off guy like Jared Toye is also a real weapon. Quinn and Morrissey are unquestionably two of the NEC's best at their respective positions. Quinn is a great goal-scorer for a midfielder while Morrissey is a lockdown defender.

"Dylan had a ton of ground balls," said Dominick. "Zarinsky was one of the best players in the league and he didn't beat him one-on-one once. They shut him down hard and that's one of the things I asked him to do at the beginning of the game."

The Fishermen travel to Marblehead on Friday and then host Masconomet on Saturday.

"We've got a lot better, we're starting to learn the game more but we still have a little ways to go," reported Dominick.