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By Michael Flanagan
Hometown Weekly Sports Editor
The No. 4 Medfield High boys lacrosse team has pumped its way through the first eight games of their 2019 season, scoring an average of 19.5 goals per game and surrendering just 3.12 per game en route to an 8-0 start.
On Saturday, the Warriors traveled to face perennial Division I power and No. 12 Duxbury, a team just as hot after the Dragons (7-3) took out archrival and then-No. 2 Hingham, 8-7, in overtime on Thursday.
Duxbury netted the game’s first two goals to seize a 2-0 lead before junior attack-man Jack McCordic (five goals) got Medfield on the board with just under four minutes to play in the opening quarter. Sam Heppenstall fired home a goal off-stick left following a dodge to make it a 3-1 game with 2:30 to play in the quarter. Duxbury carried their two-goal lead into the second.
Junior attack/mid Jake Sherman (one goal, four assists) trimmed the deficit to 3-2 with a right-handed crank just 30 seconds into the second. McCordic netted his second with an off-stick bouncer to tie the game at three with 10:04 remaining. Brian Abely cranked home a cannon off of a feed from Sherman less than a minute later to give Medfield its first lead of the contest at 4-3 with 9:12 to play in the half.
Heppenstall netted the equalizer for Duxbury on the man-up with 7:56 to play. Off the ensuing face-off win by Holy Cross commit Connor DePiero, Jack McCordic notched the hat trick and more importantly, reclaimed the lead for Medfield, taking a feed from DePiero off the rush and firing home a goal off-stick to make it 5-4 Warriors. Senior attack-man Mike Hauptman made it a two-goal game at 6-4 with 6:57 to play in the half after finishing a quick-stick feed from Sherman at the crease. Heppenstall scored his fourth of the day with 5:11 remaining to make it 6-5, but McCordic’s fifth of the day, this time thanks to good ball movement and feeds from Abely and junior attack-man Jimmy Cosolito, extended Medfield’s lead back to a pair at 7-5 with 4:41 to play.
Unfortunately for Medfield, McCordic’s fifth of the game was the final source of offense they’d see for the rest of the afternoon. Duxbury finished the half on a 3-0 run with a pair of man-up goals to take an 8-7 lead into halftime. Medfield’s defense stood tall in the third quarter, surrendering just one lone man-up goal as the Dragons took a 9-7 lead into the fourth.
Junior close D Justin Cook (25) defends against Duxbury’s Ryan Nagle.
To put it simply, there was a full load of laundry scattered across the field throughout the final quarter. Every time Medfield forced a defensive turnover, out came the flags. In a game like lacrosse where possession of the ball is paramount, a comeback when you’re constantly man-down and not in possession just was not possible for Medfield on Saturday. Duxbury finished the game on a 7-0 run dating back to the end of the second quarter, and prevailed by the 12-7 final.
“Duxbury is a good team - that’s why we play these games,” said Medfield head coach John Isaf about the loss. “We learned a lot about ourselves today with some things we need to fix, so we have to correct those things and get back to the way we were playing earlier in the season.”
Medfield will look to regroup and get back on track against rival Dover-Sherborn on May 3.
For funny and incisive sports analysis, follow Mike Flanagan on his personal Twitter at @fLAno0.
