Last night, the Fishermen boys lacrosse team won at home against Swampscott. Swept the year prior, Gloucester came in with a new Head Coach and different energy. Beautiful goaltending by senior Daniel Beaton and a unified offensive core led to the 11-9 win. 

“We worked more on defense, by the second half we pulled it together and shut them down,” Beaton said. “The middies started covering their guys and making it so they had a hard time shooting. Offense really pulled together and helped out, [Cunningham] was amazing.”

The first goal of the game came when senior captain Robert Schuster spun past his defender to hit a shot over the Big Blue goalie. After Gloucester’s first goal, Swampscott replied with 4 goals of their own. With 3 minutes left in the first quarter, the Fishermen saw themselves in a blunder. Senior captain PJ Zappa and Sophomore Jackson Low scored Gloucester’s next goals to keep the Fishermen in the game. The quarter concluded with GHS down 3-4. 

The second period began with Schuster scoring off a pass from Low. Cunningham did the same and minutes later Low scored off of a laser from the Fishermen’s left-wing. Zappa had a goal of his own in the period as well. The Big Blue had three goals of their own in the quarter. The second quarter ended with the Fishermen tied 7-7. 

Cunningham had the first goal of the third period in which he cranked his shot right past the goalie. He scored again to bring Gloucester to a comfortable lead. The third quarter finished with the Fishermen up 9-8. 

Cunningham continued his scoring in the fourth. He was the first goalscorer for Gloucester in the fourth. Zappa scored the Fishermen’s second goal in the quarter to bring GHS’ score to 11. Although they had some possible opportunities, Swampscott could not get anything going. Junior Evan Anderson chewed the clock out for the Fishermen in the win. The game ended in Gloucester’s favor, 11-9.

“As much as it is nice to outscore the other top-dog on the other team, which Cunningham definitely did, Danny Beaton was definitely the superstar with 17 saves off of 40 shots,” Head Coach Geoff Kennedy said. “We got handled pretty well by Swampscott last year and to go blow for blow with them was very impressive. I’m proud of our guys not only as lacrosse players but as people.”

The Fishermen lacrosse team moves to 3-0 in the books. Their next opponent will be the Beverly Panthers. They will meet at Newell Stadium at 4:30 pm on Thursday.

“Coming off of three wins, 3-0 we are going to try to shut them down and make them go scoreless,” Beaton said about his next matchup.

Gallery • 5 Photos

Treely Dowd

Gloucester sophomore James Sanfilippo defends against the Swampscott attackman.