Fired-up Duxbury beats L-S
DUXBURY -- It was a showdown of the only undefeated boys' lacrosse teams in the state last night at Chandler Field.
Duxbury coach Chris Sweet said regular-season finales are dangerous because of the unexpected. Well, it was Lincoln-Sudbury who was hit with the curveballs, as Duxbury cruised, 18-10, to earn the top seed in the Division 1 tournament.
The Warriors' day was doomed from the start. The team bus, delayed on Route 128, arrived late, and Lincoln-Sudbury had only 25 minutes to warm up. That's not an easy task, but when you're playing Duxbury (18-0), ranked eighth in the nation (by Laxpower.com), it's that much tougher.
``I wish [the traffic] was the reason," said L-S coach Brian Vona, whose team fell to 17-1. ``They're not a good team, they're a great team. They're at a completely different speed."
Vona didn't anticipate the outstanding play of Duxbury senior midfielders Chris Casey and Matt Fuchs. Casey had four goals and two assists and Fuchs, along with Craig Sullivan, dominated the middle of the field.
``We didn't control the ball," said Vona. ``I'm not sure how many fast breaks we gave up or how many blown clears we had, but it had to be 15-18. And you can't give a decent team, let alone a great team, that many chances. That's where at least half their goals came from."
``I think L-S was really concerned with Max Quinzani," said Sweet of his Duke-bound attack, who had four goals and five assists to raise his career total to 546 points, just 7 behind Casey Powell's national scoring record. ``When our midfielders beat them down the field, they just kept going to the cage."
The Dragons, sans Matt Levesque (42 goals, 36 assists), who injured his right shoulder last week against Wellesley, had no drop-off in firepower.
With 5:48 remaining in the first quarter, Chris Corcoran (two goals) beat Warriors goalie Alec Corliss as Duxbury took a 4-0 lead. Duxbury kept its foot on the throttle in the second quarter as Casey forced a turnover and went down the left side to score unassisted. Junior Ben Cederberg got into the act with three goals, as he scored his first goal 10 seconds later, to give Duxbury a 9-3 cushion.
The Dragons took their biggest lead, 17-7, when Cederberg completed the hat trick with 5:46 left.
Max Alderman led L-S with three goals and two assists and Andrew Williamson added three goals.
``The good thing about our kids is that they didn't give up today," said Vona. ``I'm excited to try and get back to this field for the state finals. That's where I want to be."
