Campbell boys lacrosse returns to D3 semis with win over Laconia (video)

LITCHFIELD - The Campbell High School boys lacrosse team returned to the Division III semifinals for the third year in a row thanks to a 12-5 win Saturday over Laconia.

But the foundation for the win was put in place 12 days before, when the Cougars went to Lawrence, Mass., and were handed a loss by Central Catholic.

During the previous two seasons, Campbell lost just once during the regular season, but came up short in the playoffs each year. The Cougars lost in the semifinals to the Sachems in 2022 and to Hopkinton last season in the final.

This year, Campbell coach Josh Knight wanted to his team to face a tough opponent late in the season to prepare itself for some adversity. The second-seeded Cougars (15-3) got it in the form of a 13-5 loss to the Raiders.

"That game helped us," said Knight, who is also the school's athletic director. "Playing that Central Catholic game, since then, the kids have said, is this what you mean, when we make small mistakes, it gets accentuated?

"That’s exactly what I mean. It was 7-4 halfway through the third against them and then we were making little mistakes against them. Good teams point that out."

Against a Laconia team it only beat by a goal during the regular season, Campbell stormed out of the gate this time around, going up 5-0 early in the second quarter before taking a 7-1 lead into halftime.

Andrew Willnus led the Cougars with five goals and an assist and Cruz Sandquist added four goals and an assist. Wyatt Tarr (two assists), Hunter Grant and Tyson Landry (one assist) added a goal apiece.

Seventh-seeded Laconia (12-6) struggled to maintain possession for most of the game against the Cougars' defensive pressure. With junior middie Eli Nadeau out of the lineup, the Sachems had a tough day on faceoffs as well.

Campbell's Lucas Craig was 16 of 21 on faceoffs, as the senior figured out ways to handle whatever Laconia threw at him.

"Tough way to start the game, going down (five goals) before we were able to put one in," Laconia coach Steve McDonough said. "I think all year, Campbell’s defense has been very impressive. They have a great mixture of athletes and physicality, and we were trying to utilize some things in our game plan to exploit some things that we saw. Unfortunately, we just weren’t able to capitalize."

While Campbell's defense, led by Scott and Nick Hershberger, Alex Kirby and Landry, was getting out and pressuring whenever Laconia had the ball, goalie Will O'Brien came up with enough stops to make up for any mistakes the Cougars made.

"Will probably played his best game," Knight said. "Some of the saves he was making, the clearing game is getting a little bit better. The progression he’s made this year, and really the last 365 (days) from last spring, he’s a very, very good goalie, and he’s only a sophomore. To see him step up in big games, because you never know with a quarterfinal game against a team like this, it’s awesome."

O'Brien finished with seven saves, the biggest ones coming in the first and fourth quarters.

With Campbell up 2-0 midway through the opening frame, the Sachems got a fast-break opportunity, but O'Brien was able to move across the crease and get his stick on a shot to keep Laconia off the board.

Then in the fourth quarter, after back-to-back goals by JP Harriman made Campbell's lead 10-4 with 9:11 remaining, O'Brien came up with another stop, and moments later, Grant scored to make it a seven-goal game.

Harriman and Paul Ganachi each had two goals to lead Laconia and Sam Mize also scored, but it wasn't enough.

"The first time we played them, we were able to control possession a little bit and play our style," McDonough said. "We’re not typically a fast-break team. We’ve been able to be methodical and exploit what we want to on offense. We’ve had a lot of controlling possessions, and we just weren’t able to do that (Saturday)."