Boys’ lax ends regular season with dramatic week

By Dan DeBlasio

It was the last week of the regular season for the Canton High School boys’ lacrosse team, and what a week it was. The Bulldogs were looking to make a little noise and improve their seeding in the Division 3 state tournament, which will begin next week. Canton had three games against Hockomock League foes, two of which came down to the last minute of regulation or overtime.

On Monday the Bulldogs fell to Franklin 13-4. The Panthers dominated the game on all sides of the ball and led throughout. Andrew Reardon was able to find some success in the defeat and led Canton with two goals.

Canton was back in action Tuesday night when it faced Mansfield at home on “Senior Night.” The Bulldogs honored nine seniors, including Brad Coffey, Joe Compagna, Matt Draper, Bobby Hayhurst, Nick Sullivan, Ethan Winchell and senior captains Andrew Reardon, Chris Thomas and Kyle Leavitt.

The atmosphere was electric and many fans came out to honor the seniors who have put in their hard work for the past four seasons.

“It was easily the best crowd of the season,” head coach Bill Bendell said. “There were a ton of Canton Youth Lacrosse players in attendance as well as Canton High School students, and they sure witnessed a fantastic game.”

Mansfield dominated the early part of the game and had what appeared to be a commanding lead, up 8-2 just minutes into the third quarter. But the Bulldogs were not willing to go down without a fight and mounted a spectacular comeback.

Canton clawed its way back in the game, turning the tables completely, and was down only two goals with two minutes remaining. It was at that point when freshman JC Marcone scored his third goal of the game on an assist from sophomore Matt Malloy.

Then, with 32 seconds left in the game, freshman Kurt Leavitt delivered the equalizer when he took the ball strong to the cage and scored a beautiful unassisted goal to force overtime. 

The overtime period was filled with great plays by both teams, including a clutch save by Pat Ward, but it was Mansfield’s Ryan Murphy who was able to end it with only six seconds left in the first overtime to win the sudden victory.

Malloy led the scoring with two goals and three assists, while Hayhurst, Compagna and Ryan Conrad all finished with at least one point. 
The Bulldogs were able to avenge their losses on Friday when they faced off against Medway High School in what turned out to be another thriller. 

Canton jumped out to an early 5-1 lead before Medway stormed back and took the lead 7-6 late in the fourth quarter. Staring at the possibility of their third loss of the week — and a second consecutive heartbreaking defeat — the Bulldogs rose to the occasion.

“We showed a tremendous amount of poise,” Bendell said. “I couldn’t be happier how our team was able to regroup and battle back.”

Compagna decided he wasn’t going to lose this one. He scored the tying goal on a feed from Nick O’Connor with 1:09 remaining in the game. Then, with only 11 seconds left, Compagna again found the back of the net on a nice open feed from Leavitt for the dramatic win.

Compagna got help from teammates Reardon, Malloy, Max Kamin, and O’Connor, who each finished with at least one point. Freshman goalie Ward was phenomenal, finishing with 14 saves, including five in the fourth quarter. 

Canton now awaits its seeding for the Division 3 state tournament.

Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=2509

Posted by Canton Citizen on May 27 2010. Filed under High School, Sports. Both comments and pings are currently closed.