McEvoy lifts Rockets to comeback victory

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By Michael Flanagan
Hometown Weekly Sports Editor

The Needham High varsity boys lacrosse team has thrived in the Bay State Conference in 2017, going unbeaten in league play and finishing the regular season with a 16-3 record.

Needham’s schedule has to be up there as one of the most difficult in all of Massachusetts, given their regular conference matches against Walpole (9-7 win), Natick (10-4 win), and Wellesley (14-5 win), but also due to their ridiculously grueling non-conference slate against the likes of Xaverian (15-9 win), St. John’s Prep (16-10 win), Catholic Memorial (10-6 win), Bishop Guertin (8-7 loss), BC High (12-10 loss), and Hingham (15-7 loss).

On Thursday, the No. 11 Rockets took to the field to conclude their regular season against non-conference opponent and No. 4 Acton-Boxborough (14-4) with both teams attempting to add another quality win to their resume as the hunt for a high seed in the MIAA State Tournament intensifies. Thanks to some late heroics by junior midfielder Danny McEvoy, the Rockets came from three goals down in the second half to prevail by a final of 13-12 in overtime, with McEvoy netting the game-winner 4:07 into the extra period.

The Colonials jumped out to a 2-0 lead midway through the first quarter, and a couple of big saves in net on Antonio Trabucco and John Andre kept Needham off the scoreboard until 4:40 remaining in the quarter. After a caused turnover by senior captain and UMass commit, Sam Eisenstadt, Stephen Arrondo scooped the groundball and rushed up the field for Needham on a fast break. Arrondo dished a pass to Trabucco who then fed a pass to a wide-open Jason Child, who fired a shot upstairs to cut the deficit to 2-1.

With 2:17 remaining in the quarter, A-B extended its lead back to 3-1, but Sam Eisenstadt quickly cut it back to a 3-2 game with a bouncer on a fast break off the ensuing face off with 1:59 remaining. Michael Calcagni notched his second assist of the contest just 23 seconds later when he fed a pass to Antonio Trabucco, who fired a shot five-hole to tie the game at three with 1:36 to play in the first. With 16 seconds to play in the quarter, the Colonials recaptured the lead at 4-3. However, the Rockets immediately responded thanks to the speed of John Andre, who scooped up a face-off win by senior captain Joe Bruno and rushed in on a fast break. Andre faked a shot and fed a pass to a streaking Sam Eisenstadt who fired a bouncer into the back of the cage to tie the game at four with two seconds to play in the quarter.

The game entered the second frame knotted at four, but A-B quickly seized back the lead just 32 seconds in at 5-4. Senior midfielder Eric O’Brien tied things back up at five with 10:17 to play when he cut to the middle and was fed a pass by Calcagni. O’Brien backed off, dodged to his right hand and fired a missile from 12 yards out into the back of the cage. A-B would respond quickly, however, in the form of two straight goals on the man-up to take a 7-5 lead with 8:38 remaining in the half. Michael Calcagni cut the deficit back to one at 7-6 with 7:07 remaining on a nifty left-handed rip before sophomore Boston University commit Jason Child tied the game at seven with 5:18 remaining. The Colonials took back the lead with 3:48 to play, but Needham came right back to tie it back up at eight just over a minute later, thanks to Child’s second of the quarter (third of the game) off a nice dodge from behind the cage and far-post snipe. A-B countered with two goals in the final two minutes of the half, taking a 10-8 lead into the break.

Just 1:28 into the third quarter, Acton-Boxborough extended their lead to 11-8 on a fast break. With 7:06 left to play in the quarter, Sam Eisenstadt notched his third of the contest on a bouncer off of a fast break to make it an 11-9 game. The Rockets continued to pepper to the A-B end of the field throughout the remainder of the third quarter, but were unable to cut deeper into the deficit at the end of three.

Just 43 seconds into the fourth quarter, sophomore Brendan Walsh got Needham back to within one at 11-10 on a left-handed bouncer. Joe Bruno won the ensuing face-off for Needham, giving the Rockets the ball and the chance to tie the game. Unfortunately, a series of big saves by the Acton-Boxborough goaltender kept it an 11-10 game and gave the Colonials back possession with the chance to extend their lead back to two. A-B found the back of the cage with six minutes left in the fourth, and Needham’s backs were suddenly up against the wall. However, just 20 seconds after the goal by A-B, Child fired home his fourth of the contest to pull Needham back to within one at 12-11. Acton-Boxborough won the ensuing face-off and attempted to kill clock in the Needham end. A big save by goaltender Andrew McNally gave Needham back the ball with just over a minute to play, and the Rockets made it count, as Danny McEvoy fired home a left-handed rip five-hole to tie the game at 12 with less than 30 seconds to play, sending the game to overtime.

After both teams traded failed possessions to begin overtime, the Rockets set up shop in the offensive end with two minutes to play after A-B was called for a push. With 53 seconds to go in overtime, Brendan Walsh drove behind the net and dished a no-look pass to Danny McEvoy at the top of the crease. McEvoy quick-sticked the ball into the net on his left-hand to win the game for the Rockets in thrilling comeback fashion.

The win over Acton-Boxborough was David Wainwright’s 250th win as head coach of the Rockets, and the only lead Needham had throughout the entire game was when McEvoy dumped the game-winner into the net. The win propelled the Rockets to the No. 8 spot in the RPI rankings.

At the time of print, Needham will rest their legs for a couple days before getting after it in the MIAA State Tournament next week.