Winchester Beats Medfield For State Lacrosse Title

QUINCY, Ma. - John Pirani has been around lacrosse too long to panic over a little thing like a 6-2 first-half deficit. At Veterans Memorial Field Friday, the longtime Winchester coach's patience and belief in his players was rewarded.

Ryan McCarthy scored with 1:33 remaining in the Division 2 state lacrosse championship and the Winchester defense made it stand up as the Sachems beat Medfield, 11-10. It was the Sachems first lacrosse title since 2000.

"We executed the last couple minutes the way we executed the whole second half, which is with resolve. A real resolve," said Pirani.

That resolve was necessary after a first half in which Medfield controlled play. After spotting the Sachems a 2-0 lead on goals by Jake Mabardy (three goals, one assist) and Charlie Ward (goal, two assists) Medfield took over. Brian Abely scored the first of his five goals for the Warriors and following a goal by Jack McCordic it was tied at 2-2 after 12 minutes.

Medfield controlled play again in the second quarter and scored four straight goals to take a 6-2 lead. But with 1:30 to play in the half, Winchester (22-1) stopped the bleeding with a goal by Harry Carpini. The Sachems were still down at the half, 6-3, but Carpini's goal restored some confidence to the Winchester sideline.

The second half was a different story.

"We came out quick," said Pirani of the Sachems three unanswered third-quarter goals. "When you play good teams, good teams put you in a position where you make mistakes. It's a simple as that. We're a good team and we did that the whole second half to them. I think we just kinda found ourselves at halftime and made a couple of little adjustments, no big deal. But at the end of the day what you saw in the second half was the real us I think."

Mabardy scored twice to cut the deficit to 6-5 and Grant Murray's first goal evened the score at 6-6. But Medfield (20-3) wasn't done and Abely scored twice to put the Warriors up, 8-6. McCarthy's first goal cut the margin to 8-7 and Carpini's second score with 1.6 seconds left in the quarter tied it up, 8-8.

The fourth quarter continued the back-n-forth play with each possession growing in importance. Medfield went up, 9-8, only to have Murray tie it at 9-9. Medfield again went ahead, 10-9, this time with 8:26 to play. It was just the third time all season an opponent had scored 10 or more goals against the Sachems.

"I think Matty Suffredini, despite giving up 10 goals, I thought he was great," said Pirani of his junior goalie. "They were excellent shooters."

After a Winchester timeout with 5:30 to play, Winchester sophomore James Gibbons scored to tie the game. There were five minutes left and it was 10-10. With both Suffredini and Medfield goalie Peter Barrette playing well, overtime loomed.

Medfield called timeout with 2:01 to play but it was Winchester that benefited with McCarthy scoring his clutch goal to put the Sachems up, 11-10, with 1:33 to go.

"In a one-goal game against an opponent like that, there's not one goal that's not a big goal," said Pirani. "Every goal is a big goal."

But certainly none bigger than McCarthy's.

Medfield took another timeout with 1:28 left but Winchester's defense, led by All-American Hayden Bean, frustrated the Warriors. When Medfield's last possession with 8.5 seconds left resulted in a dropped pass and a rushed shot attempt it was over.

The Sachems would soon be on the highway heading back to Winchester, bringing the MIAA Division 2 trophy with them.