Campbell boys lacrosse able to hold off St. Thomas (video)

LITCHFIELD - With just three weeks left in the regular season, any kind of test the Campbell High School boys lacrosse team can face is a good one.

The Cougars all they could handle Monday from St. Thomas and figured out a way to pass.

Brendan Boschi scored four goals, including what proved to be the game-winner early in the fourth quarter, and Campbell's defense gave the Saints all they could handle in a 6-5 win for the Cougars.

"It’s nice to get put into these positions before the playoffs so you can have a little gut check," Campbell coach Josh Knight said. "It’s nice to put ourselves in these situations. You can simulate it as much as you want in practice, but you’re not going to simulate something like this."

Campbell scored first and led 2-1 early in the second quarter, but went into halftime down 3-2, and after coming back to take a two-goal lead, saw St. Thomas rally to tie it early in the fourth.

Ryan Guerrette led the defense for Campbell (8-2, ARV in the NHHSS Coaches Poll), making 12 saves, while Jack Noury had a goal and two assists and Drew Adamakos also scored. It was the eighth win in a row for the Cougars, who picked up a 22-10 win over the Saints on Saturday.

The Saints' improved effort on defense, and some offensive struggles early in the game, helped keep the score down for Campbell.

"They pressed out hard and we have some speed with our offense," Knight said. "They made adjustments and their goalie was saving anything that was outside. We had to be smart with our shots in the second half.

"At halftime, I just told the boys, it comes down to pride at a certain point. It’s you against the other man. We’ve got to create slides and we’ve got to create two slides, and if we don’t do that, it’s going to be difficult to win."

Marcus Broom led St. Thomas (2-7) with two goals and an assist while Anthony DiMartino had two goals and Finnegan Connor had one. Elijah Allaire made 10 saves for the Saints, who dropped their seventh in a row and third game this year by two goals or fewer.

"They’ve had a rough go of it," St. Thomas coach Sean Houlahan said. "I was happy because they were able to overcome that. They’ve been beat up pretty good. Coming out and showing that they haven’t given up, they’re learning and they want to get better, and then have a game like this, it speaks to how we can be at the end of the year."

Noury gave Campbell a 1-0 lead with 8:08 left in the first quarter on a goal that seemed like it bounced off everything - the grass, the crossbar and Allaire - before rolling into the cage. Broom tied it with 1:32 to go in the quarter when he beat Guerrette short side, but both goalies kept it close for their respective teams.

Boschi converted a feed from Michael DeCarli 16 seconds into the second quarter to give Campbell a 2-1 lead, but the Cougars went scoreless for the next 18 minutes. DiMartino and Connor scored late in the first half and the Saints took a 3-2 lead into the break.

"We didn’t change much on defense other than, pregame, I really emphasized to the guys that they’ve got to get back in," Houlahan said. "We were slow and lazy (on Saturday), and I think what you saw was the effort part. There was a lot more effort on defense and our offense took care of the ball more. That’s a big thing. We were able to give our defense a rest."

Campbell came out firing to start the second half, getting off five shots during a long possession to open the third. A penalty on the Cougars with 9:15 to go in the frame gave St. Thomas an opportunity, but a pair of shots missed the mark and Guerrette made a clean save and quickly cleared it.

Noury found Boschi in transition and the junior scored with 7:40 to go in the quarter to tie it at 3. The Cougars then got back-to-back goals in less than a minute, as Adamakos scored off a feed from Boschi.

The Saints won the ensuing faceoff, but turned it over. Boschi then converted a pass from John Newell to give Campbell a 5-3 lead with 2:29 remaining in the third.

"I always try to preach to the kids that defense starts the offense," Knight said. "If we can get a transition game, that just makes things easier on the other side. The quicker we can get out, the quicker transition game we can get, moving the ball, we can get it to the offense, and if we don’t have anything, we can pull it out and run our offense."

DiMartino scored a manup goal with 22.8 seconds remaining in the third and Broom tied things up just 43 seconds into the fourth. Boschi answered less than two minutes later, giving Campbell the lead with 9:29 to play and the Cougars were able to hold on for the win.