Boys Lacrosse narrowly loses to the Panthers
(From Left) Gloucester captain Robert Schuster, captain PJ Zappa, and sophomore Brett Cunningham all scramble for the ball.
April 15, 2022
Last night, the Fishermen lacrosse team lost to the Beverly Panthers at home 10-9. The game was thrilling, and the audience at Newell was ecstatic. The game seemed to go on and on with each team replying to the other’s goal in the final quarter. Gloucester had a great offensive game plan and players stepped up but fell short in sudden death overtime.
“It’s hard not to get up against Beverly,” Head Coach Geoff Kennedy said. “We’ve never beat them in program history. To take the lead early was great. We let a little bit of air out of these tires.”
The first goal of the night came from Gloucester. Captain Peter Zappa Jr. came from behind the net and shot under the goalie to give the Fishermen the first goal with 8:35 remaining in the first quarter. Both teams played hard defense and did not allow a single goal for the rest of the quarter. The score was 1-0 when the first horn blew.
In the second quarter, Gloucester sophomore Jackson Low was the first goalscorer with his shot from the left-wing. GHS Sophomore Brett Cunningham with the assist. Beverly got their first points of the night with 5:31 remaining in the second quarter. Zappa replied with back-to-back goals to bring Gloucester’s lead to 3, with 2:34 left to go in the second quarter. With less than 39 seconds left in the second quarter, Beverly still found an opportunity to score and the quarter ended with the Fishermen up 4-2.
It only took less than 30 seconds for Beverly to score coming in from halftime. They continued to score back-to-back in the third and the Fishermen saw themselves lose their lead. With 1:14 left in the third quarter, Gloucester’s Captain Robert Schuster brought some life into GHS with a goal. The game was tied at 5-5. Beverly replied with a goal of their own. The Fishermen answered quickly with GHS senior Tristan Mitchell winning the next face-off and feeding Schuster on the right-wing to get his second goal of the game. The goal tied the game again for the Fishermen. The third quarter ended with a 6-6 tie.
The Panthers were the first goal scorers of the fourth period. With 10:43 left, the Fishermen were down a goal. After a defensive play, Cunningham went down the field dodging defenders and scored to tie the game up for GHS. Then after some sloppy defense, the Fishermen were down 7-9 with 4 minutes left in the game. Cunningham and Zappa went on to score back-to-back goals to send Gloucester to overtime.
After a penalty at the end of the fourth quarter, Beverly had possession for most if not all of the overtime minutes, and the Fishermen’s defense fell short. The game ended with Beverly winning 10-9.
“It’s a game of runs,” Kennedy said. “I am definitely proud of our guys. We won a lot more little battles. I was really hoping it would carry over to win the war and the ultimate game. We are missing some guys and I am really proud of how these guys played and battled back. We are still learning and I think that’s kind of the top tier they can bring at us,” Kennedy said. “I am excited for the next game and I hope these guys are using their feelings to get the vibration going and we’ll be buzzing around again with some more energy.”
Gloucester’s moves to 3-1 and they will face Winthrop away next Thursday.
