Cheverus’ Matt Roy sent NYA’s Cam Smith flying during the teams’ meeting Saturday afternoon. (Jason Veilleux photo)

Scoreless first half seals Stags’ doom

The Cheverus boys’ lacrosse team faced its first major test Saturday afternoon when it hosted North Yarmouth Academy.

While its second half effort was good, the Stags did not fare well in the first 24 minutes, failing to score while digging a six-goal hole.

Eventually, Cheverus tried to rally in the third and fourth quarters, but wasn’t able to put a serious scare in the Panthers. The Stags dropped to 1-1 with a 13-5 setback.

“(The Panthers) were pretty composed for three of four quarters and we were only composed for one,” said Stags coach Deke Andrew. “We’re very inexperienced in a number of places. Even the older guys don’t have a lot of varsity experience.”

Saturday afternoon special

Cheverus and NYA had playoff success a year ago and hope to contend in 2009. The Panthers wound up 5-10 last spring and fell to Yarmouth in the Eastern B Final. The Stags finished 8-6 after losing to Kennebunk in the Western B semifinals.

Both teams were hit hard by graduation and figure to take awhile to hit their stride this season, but the Panthers opened with a 12-2 home victory over Freeport last Tuesday, while the Stags held off host Deering 11-7 in their first game.

The last meeting between the perennial contenders was two years ago, a 9-5 NYA win at Cheverus.

Saturday, the Panthers triumphed again, although it took them awhile to get it going.

In the first period, NYA won both draws, had an 17-11 edge in ground balls and outshot the Stags 14-3, but it took 8 minutes, 4 seconds until the Panthers broke the scoring ice.

The first goal set a trend as junior Tom Gildersleeve set up classmate Gus Wellin for a shot which eluded Justin Sheehan and tickled the twine.

In the second quarter, NYA seized control.

Just 2:17 in, the Panthers went up 2-0 on an unassisted goal from Gildersleeve. A mere 18 seconds later, NYA grabbed a 3-0 advantage when Cam Smith set up junior Phil Champoux for a goal. With 9:06 to play in the half, Wellin fed Gildersleeve for a man-up tally, the Panthers’ third goal in 37 seconds. Finn Hadlock (from Wellin) and Smith (from Shane O’Hearn) also scored before the half for a commanding 6-0 advantage.

NYA won all eight faceoffs, grabbed 36 ground balls, outshot Cheverus 24-6 and forced 16 turnovers in the initial 24 minutes.

“Against a team as skilled as that, 6-0 is pretty tough to come back from,” said Andrew.

The Stags made some noise at the start of the second half. They won the first faceoff at 57 seconds in, and finally got on the board when Ryan McQuaid scored on a rebound. With 8:54 to go in the third, Ian Schwarz set up Stefano Caiazzo and it was 6-2.

Cheverus had chances to draw closer. But with 5:07 left in the third, the Panthers pushed their advantage to five when Champoux set up sophomore Tim Millett for a score. Just 22 seconds later, McQuaid (from Haydon Peterson) answered for the Stags, but NYA made it 8-3 when Wellin set up Gildersleeve with 2:43 left. Schwarz (from Trevor Greene) scored in the final minute of the quarter for the hosts, but they still trailed, 8-4 with 12 minutes to go.

“Today, that third quarter was our best quarter of the season so far,” Andrew said. “I was happy with that. We’ll focus on that.”

Cheverus got a gift prior to the fourth when Gildersleeve was sent to the penalty box for three minutes for using an illegal stick, but the Stags promptly turned the ball over and didn’t register a shot with the advantage.

With 8:42 to go, Gildersleeve quickly made his presence felt again, taking a pass from Wellin, and finishing to make it 9-4.

With 7:41 remaining, senior Peter Foley scored an unassisted goal for the Stags, but that would be Cheverus’ last hurrah.

Sophomore Dylan Seely, Wellin, Gildersleeve and Smith all scored unassisted in the waning moments and NYA put the finishing touches on its 13-5 triumph.

“Passing and catching definitely got better in the second half,” said Gildersleeve, who led all scorers with five goals and an assist. “We’re starting to click. We have a pretty young team, but we’re coming along great. I think we had more talent last year, but we’re closer as a team this year.”

Wellin added two goals with four assists and Smith had two goals and one assist.

NYA had a 14-6 edge on faceoffs, grabbed 54 ground balls to 44 for the Stags, forced 30 turnovers and had a 39-24 advantage in shots.

Cheverus was paced by two goals from McQuaid. Sheehan stopped 10 shots.

The Stags went to red-hot Portland Tuesday (too late for print) and host defending Class B champion Yarmouth Saturday afternoon.

Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net

 

Stags senior Ryan McQuaid looked for an open teammate while NYA’s Brandon Barrett made life difficult. The Panthers held Cheverus without a first half goal in their 13-5 triumph. (Jason Veilleux photo)