Lions suffer first loss after building 5-goal lead
jbaker@pawtuckettimes.com
LINCOLN – There’s no other way to say it: This one hurt.
You could tell by the looks on the Lincoln High players, especially senior co-captains Jayce Beaudette and Mike Mongelli, not to mention head coach Mark Barrett and assistants Drew Wood and Luke Gadbois.
With 7:52 remaining in the third period on Monday night, the Lions held a 9-4 cushion over Cranston East and seemed destined to start their Division III-North campaign with a 3-0 mark.
The Thunderbolts, however, had a collective different idea. They unfathomably outscored Lincoln, 6-1, over the final 19:52 of regulation, then took advantage of senior middie Jamison Cannata’s tally just 31 seconds into sudden-death overtime to notch a stunning 11-10 victory at Ferguson Field.
The extra session had virtually just started when the visitors forced a turnover, and the ball eventually found its way to junior attacker Brennan Haid. He found Cannata somewhat open, and the latter juked a defender and scooped home the shot that proved to be a dagger to the Lions (2- 1).
“It’s inexplicable,” Barrett stated after the contest. “Cranston East had a really good comeback; its offense really clicked, and our defense didn’t respond. We’ve hit a bump in the road here; we’ve got a lot of things to fix.”
The Lions had begun the campaign with consecutive 9-3 and 15-3 victories over Smithfield and Scituate before Monday’s defeat. It was something no one really anticipated.
“I’d say we need to work on our groundballs and turnovers,” Barrett stated. “You just have to give credit to Cranston East. They played hard, we played hard and it was hard-fought. We just came out on the short end.”
Junior attacker Ethan Mulholland led the ‘Bolts with five goals, while the hero Cannata chipped in a hat trick and two feeds; Haid two scores and two assists; and sophomore David DaSilva a solo tally.
For the Lions (2-1 league), Beaudette posted five goals and two feeds; senior attacker Mason Dusty two scores and four assists; junior midfielder Boyd Foster a goal and two helpers; and senior Evan Beretta a tally and a feed.
Lincoln maintained that 9-4 advantage until Cannata earned an unassisted goal with 5:07 left in the third, and Mulholland converted a pass from frosh Patrick Maguire 50 ticks later to slice it to 9-6.
Only 47 seconds after that, Beaudette and Dusty hooked up to extend the lead to 10-6.
Incredibly, it would be the last time the Lions would score.
With 55.3 seconds remaining in the penultimate quarter, Haid scored, then shoveled one home to cut it to 10-8 at the end of the stanza.
Mulholland knifed it to one at – ironically enough – the 7:52 mark of the fourth quarter, and Cannata knotted it with help from an LHS turnover at 3:53.
Taking care of the ball proved to be Lincoln’s downfall over the final 17 minutes.
Lions’ senior keeper Andy Barr closed with 10 saves, as did East senior Dany Gomez.
Barrett did say that his squad will host Mount St. Charles on Monday, May 7, and they all will honor junior defender David Du, the creator of “Austin’s Army” with help from Lincoln Police Captain Phil Gould.
Du, who in January overcame a battle with cancer, has decided to be the main cog in fundraising efforts to help the family of six-year-old Austin Chea. He was diagnosed with leukemia back in October, and is now undergoing sev- eral months of chemotherapy sessions.
Barrett indicated all proceeds from concessions, not to mention donations, will benefit the Chea family and its continued exorbitant medical bills.