BERLIN- Worcester Prep’s boys’ varsity lacrosse team routed visiting Gunston, 20-6, at home on Monday to capture the Eastern Shore Independent Athletic Conference (ESIAC) championship.
The Mallards rebounded from a tough late season loss to visiting Calverton, 11-7, last Friday, with a pair of wins including the ESIAC title game at home on Monday. Sandwiched in between was a resounding 14-3 win over Bishop McNamara at home last Saturday on Senior Day.
Against Calverton, Worcester got out to an early 4-0 lead, but could not withstand a late run and fell, 11-7, for only their third loss of the season. Earlier losses came to Parkside, 6-5, in the season opener and Salesianium, 15-8, back on April 15. In the loss to Calverton last Friday, Wyatt Richins led Worcester with three goals, while Sam Cantello added two goals and an assist. Tucker Brown and Trent Marshall added single goals.
The very next day, the Worcester boys routed Bishop McNamara, 14-3, at home on Senior Day. On Monday, Worcester met Gunston for the ESIAC championship and routed the Herons, 20-6. The game was also a quarterfinal for the Metropolitan Independent Lacrosse League (MILL), in which Worcester also competes. The MILL championship is set for Friday.
Against Gunston, Worcester jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in the first quarter before the Herons got on the board with just over three minutes left in the period. With 2:57 left in the first, Cantello found Brown open on the crease and Brown converted to extend the lead to 5-1.
Brown returned the favor about a minute later, finding Pat Petrera open on the crease with a nice assist to push the lead to 7-1. Richins finished the late first quarter run with an isolation move from the top of the box to stake Worcester to an 8-1 lead with just 21 seconds left in the first.
Early in the second, Petrera scored an extra-man goal to push the lead to 9-1. In the next sequence, the Mallards complete four bang-bang passes ending with Richins on the crease and Richins finished the impressive play to extend the lead to 10-1.
With 10:16 left in the second, Brown slashed through the Heron defense to extend the lead to 11-1. Petrera then found an open Richins on the crease to push the lead to 12-1 with just over seven minutes left in the second. Less than a minute later, Brown weaved through the Gunston defense and fired home another goal to make it 12-1.
As an illustration of how everything was going Worcester’s way against Gunston on Monday, a deflected shot caromed high in the air and found Cantello wide open on the crease to run the lead to 14-1. After running nearly three minutes off the clock, Cantello scored on a nice move from behind to extend the lead to 15-1. After running two more minutes off the clock, Richins found Cantello with just over a minute left in the second to push the lead to 16-1, which is how the first half ended. In the second half, Worcester continued the slow-down game and played reserves and cruised to the 20-6 win.