Campbell boys lacrosse avenges playoff loss with win over Trinity (video)

MANCHESTER - The Campbell High School boys lacrosse team didn't have a long bus ride Monday, but it was long enough for the coaches to notice something was different.

For the 20 minutes it took the Cougars to get to Derryfield Park, the bus was completely quiet. Instead, the players let their game do the talking.

Campbell scored more than a dozen goals in the first half, including a 6-0 run over a four-plus minute stretch, and the Cougars cruised past Trinity 19-8 in a rematch of a Division III playoff game, won by the defending-champion Pioneers, from last season.

"We came out ready to go. It was the quietest bus ride," Campbell coach Josh Knight said. "I mean, it was (only) 20 minutes long, but one of my assistants was like ‘they’re silent.’ I think they were … the back of our shirts this year, it says ‘unfinished business.’ They’ve kind of taken that in stride. It’s a regular-season game, but we wanted to try to fix what went wrong in the playoff game last year."

Brendan Boschi led the way for Campbell (7-0, ARV in the NHHSSports Coaches Poll), scoring all six of his goals in the first half while also dishing out five assists. Jack Noury added two goals and four assists and Andrew Willnus had four goals and a helper, as the Cougars built a 14-4 lead going into halftime.

Tiernan Sullivan also had two goals and three assists and John Newell (one assist) and Colby Carey each scored two goals. Lucas Craig won 11 of 13 faceoffs, and after a first half in which the Campbell defense didn't see much action, goalie Ryan Guerrette made seven saves.

Trinity (5-1) scored four goals on seven shots in the first half, but the Pioneers had 13 turnovers in the opening 24 minutes and 25 for the game. Jack Socha, Tyler Manning and Austin Pepin each had two goals for Trinity while Drew Overy had a goal and an assist and Finn McDonough also scored.

Matt Miclette had two assists and Nick Guerra made 10 saves, but the Pioneers struggled with getting the ball off the ground.

"We came out flat," Trinity coach Mike Martinez said. "We really hadn’t had much practice in the past week (during vacation). We just didn’t have the right mentality to come out and play the top team in our division. When they got off that bus, it was business.

"We actually did a really great job, I thought, we had the ball on the carpet a lot. But us picking up groundballs made or broke the game. We couldn’t get the ball up to offense, and where we’ve struggled at points this year, where we can’t get the ball up, it kills us."

Boschi gave Campbell the lead just 25 seconds into the game, and after the Pioneers tied it, he and Noury helped the Cougars go on a 3-0 run. Boschi had a goal and an assist and Noury had two helpers during that stretch to make it 4-1.

"Only having five seniors last year, a lot of these guys know what that feeling is like," Knight said. "That sticks in the back of their head a little bit. They’ve been in the position and they understand what it takes. We come out strong right away, we’re a better team. It’s nice to see them adapt."

Trinity cut the lead to two on a bad bounce for Campbell, when a pass by Pepin missed the mark, but took an funny hop and alluded Guerrette. The Pioneers seemed to gain a little momentum, winning the ensuing faceoff and keeping possession, but they couldn't capitalize.

Jackson Kanaley forced a Trinity turnover and started a breakout, getting the ball up to Boschi, who found Willnus for a goal with 1:12 left in the first quarter to give Campbell a 5-2 lead. Boschi connected with Willnus again for a goal with 18.6 seconds left and Carey added another with 1.4 remaining to give the Cougars a 7-2 lead after one.

Boschi went right back to work to start the second, scoring back-to-back goals just 33 seconds apart, and Noury got his first of the game with 8:54 left in the first half to put the Cougars up 10-2.

The Pioneers had entered the game allowing an average of 4.4 goals through their first five games, and the 19 scored by Campbell was 10 more than their previous high allowed, while it tied a season-high for the Cougars.

"This is a very good defense," Knight said of Trinity. "They have a lot of the same guys back, they have two very good goalies. It’s definitely a good defense, so it was nice to see them click on all cylinders. It’s almost when you’re thinking too much, you don’t play as good. At times, we get a little robotic and I tell them, guys this game is supposed to be fun. Just go and play, just go and have fun sometimes."