ACTON — All season, Acton-Boxboro has been manufacturing methods to search out motivation, and newfound methods to show that the Revolution really belong within the dialog for an elusive Div. 1 boys lacrosse championship.
On Friday night time, the newest alternative to make a press release arrived on their doorstep within the type of a bitter rival, they usually succeeded in very spectacular vogue. Seniors Tyler Clayton (4 objectives, two assists) and Cam Matthews (4 objectives, help) shouldered issues offensively, as third-seeded Acton-Boxboro punched its ticket to the Final Four with a convincing 15-7 rout of No. 6 Lincoln-Sudbury.
“We wanted to get out to a good start,” Clayton mentioned. “(Lincoln-Sudbury) is such a great team, and we knew that if we could possess the ball, we knew we could do our thing, do anything we wanted to. We just wanted to get right to the ball, (and make plays).”
This sport was tabbed as a showdown between two of the state’s prime groups, and for apparent purpose. Both packages had been flooded with expertise, had related play types and nice teaching in addition, so most felt this matchup may very well be thought-about a coin flip.
Yet, when this heavyweight bout kicked off, the Revolution (17-4) threw the primary collection of jabs, and the Warriors discovered themselves struggling to realize their collective footing. Matthews would open issues with a purpose 9 seconds into play, earlier than Ryan Cho and Christian Maranian added tallies in the course of the subsequent handful of minutes. With 8:09 left within the opening body, Acton-Boxboro had already constructed a 3-0 lead.
“We knew we could score in clips if we could get the ball,” mentioned Acton-Boxboro coach Pat Ammendolia. “We knew we’d have the opportunity to score a lot, so yeah, that was on the scouting report.”
The Revolution would construct a first-half cushion as nice as 6-1 off a purpose by Joey Cronin with 9:44 left within the second quarter, earlier than Lincoln-Sudbury (13-6) started to stage. Ryan Berkel and Van Tanguay every tallied a purpose within the second quarter, because the Warriors lower their deficit to 7-3. Lincoln-Sudbury would draw inside 7-4 with 8:10 remaining within the third off a purpose from Luke Ohler. But then, the levee lastly collapsed for the Warriors as Acton-Boxboro closed the sport on a 7-2 scoring run, with Clayton scoring three of his 4 objectives within the second half.
In addition to Clayton and Matthews, the Revolution acquired a terrific spark from Cho (purpose, three assists). Will Steinkrauss recorded 13 saves within the cage for Acton-Boxboro, whereas Mike Calvo gained 14 faceoffs.
Berkel completed with a hat trick to hold Lincoln-Sudbury offensively, whereas Tanguay additionally added a pair of assists in his effort.
Acton-Boxboro will now tackle the winner of Saturday’s Round of 8 tilt between second-seeded BC High and No. 7 Xaverian within the Final Four.
“(Lincoln-Sudbury) got the best of us here in 2021,” mentioned Matthews. “We remember things. We remember it all. To come out here, prove a point and shock the state – that’s all it takes.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com