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Fishermen clinch tourney spot with 11-9 win over Falcons

Thursday, May, 22 By Richard Slate
Staff writer

Can you think of a more satisfying way to clinch a tournament spot than by beating your fiercest rival on their home turf?

The Gloucester Fishermen (9-9) boys lacrosse team can now answer that question after beating Danvers, 11-9, last night in both teams' regular season finale. With the win, Gloucester awaits word on their next opponent which they'll find out tomorrow.

Senior midfielder Adam Quinn (4 goals) and senior attackman Jeremy Fanning (3 goals, assist) carried the Fishermen scoring while junior defenseman Dylan Morrissey was a ground ball machine and junior goalie Shane Stephenson (11 saves) stepped up with some big saves.

"Shane is such a huge part of our team now," said Gloucester head coach Drew Domenick. "This is his first year he's ever played lacrosse so he's come a long way. To see him come this far in a season is my proudest moment. In the Beverly and Danvers games, he's been outstanding."

Falcons head coach John Maggiacomo agreed.

Shane has come such a long way. I saw him play in a winter league and I told him after the game tonight, 'you did a great job for never playing goalie before this season.' Quinn's a great player too and Morrissey could play college ball as a long-stick middie."

Danvers senior midfielder and captain Steve Kontos (2 goals, assist) opened the scoring for the game but 1-0 is the only lead the Falcons (7-13) would hold all night.

Sophomore midfielder David Greenleaf answered for Gloucester followed by Fanning's first goal to make it 2-1 Fishermen. Danvers senior attackman Jay Sabino (3 goals) tied it before the end of the first quarter.   

Quinn scored on a wrap around to begin the second while Jay Sabino (3 goals) responded with an nice feed from Kontos. Greenleaf scored again from Marc Buotte to give Gloucester a 4-3 lead at the half.

In the third quarter, Gloucester started playing the style they prefer. They got long possessions on offense and let their skilled players take over. Sabino tied it at four then Quinn tallied a goal off a feed from Geoff Kennedy. Fanning lulled his defender to sleep and beat Falcons goalie T.J. Ingraham (9 saves) to make it 6-4. Eric Sands scored a quick stick goal from Ryan Burge to cut it to 6-5.

Fanning wrapped around the cage and scored, followed by Burge scoring a man-up goal. The Fishermen then put it away with a four-goal run stretching from the third quarter to the fourth. Jim Frontiero, Quinn, Buotte and Quinn (man-up) made it 11-6.

The lead seemed safe but Danvers made it interesting by scoring three goals to make it 11-9 with less than a minute left. Multiple careless Gloucester penalties created the chaotic finish. Ultimately though, they played well enough to win it.

"It's tough, we have to learn how to play with a lead and keep our emotions in check," admitted Domenick. "It was a big turnaround from the first half to the second half. We started playing our style with the long possessions we were tiring them out. The pace of the game (fast) wasn't what we usually play best at. We play better when we settle it down. We have such good athletes that we can run around them."

With multiple senior leaders, Gloucester hopes to make some noise in the tournament.