(Courtesy Photo)
By STEPHEN MARTELLUCCI
LITTLETON — The season ended in heartbreaking fashion for the Lynnfield High boys’ lacrosse team last Thursday as they were nipped by host Littleton, 13-12, in the MIAA Division 4 Round of 16 on a very hot, sunny, humid day in which the temperatures were in the 90’s.
Zach Milner was the hero for the Tigers scoring the game-winning goal with only five seconds left in the fourth quarter.
Things looked grim at the half for the Pioneers as they trailed, 7-2. However, they stormed back in the third quarter and cut the Tiger lead to two (9-7) heading into the fourth quarter.
In the fourth, Lynnfield took their first lead and were up, 12-11, with just under three minutes left before the hosts scored twice to escape with the win.
“They have a very good team and their depth helped them with the heat,” said Pioneers head coach Pat Lamusta. “We came out hungry in the second half and showed a lot of heart. I was proud of them for that because we left it all out there.”
Kelan Cardinal led the Pioneer offense with four goals while Owen Considine led the team in points with six as he had three goals and three assists.
Mike Murphy had two goals, two assists and four ground balls to tie Cardinal for the team lead. Owen Doherty scored twice while Paul Daley had one goal and two ground balls to round out the scoring.
Pioneer goalie, Ben Pimentel, made 16 saves as he finished at 13-7 in net this spring.
“They tried to screen him a lot but he did a good job overall,” said Lamusta.
Lamusta also praised defensive midfielder, Josh Bernabei.
“He did a great job battling defensively,” said Lamusta, about the sophomore.
Matt Clark led the Tigers in scoring with six goals.
With the loss, the 9th-seeded Pioneers ended the year at 13-7. Meanwhile, the 8th-seeded Tigers lost at top-seeded Cohasett, 12-3 last Saturday in the quarterfinals to finish at 17-2.