Coe-Brown boys lacrosse regroups late to get win over Campbell (video)

LITCHFIELD - Tony DePalma felt like his Coe-Brown Northwood Academy boys lacrosse team needed to experience some adversity.

The Bears coach didn't expect it to happen the way it did on Wednesday, but happen it did, as Campbell scored four goals in less than four minutes to open the fourth quarter and tie things up at 6. Thanks to a a couple of penalties, the Cougars even had a chance to take the lead after the tying goal.

Instead, Coe-Brown got the ball back without any further damage done, and found the response DePalma was hoping to get.

Joseph Fenton scored with just under four minutes remaining to break the tie and Robert Lee added an insurance goal to give the Bears an 8-6 win over the Cougars to keep their unbeaten season going.

“We needed (Wednesday),” DePalma said. “There are a lot of variables here, like the hottest day we’ve played, and we needed a challenge. We needed to get punched in the mouth, which we did, and be able to take that and find a way back through it.”

Now at 12-0, the Bears (No. 10 in the New Hampshire Orthopaedic Center/NHHSSports Coaches Poll) are the only boys lacrosse team in the state without a loss. Not only that, but going into the game against Campbell (5-7), Coe-Brown's goal differental was plus-129, as the Bears had scored in double digits in all but one game and had allowed five or more goals just twice.

Through a quarter, Coe-Brown looked well on its way to doing that again, going up 4-0 after one and dictating a lot of play. But in the second quarter, although the Bears dominated possession, the Coguars' defense didn't budge, thanks largely to senior goalie Will O'Brien, who finished with 16 saves.

“He’s just been incredible from the beginning,” Campbell coach Harrison Urda said. “He’ll make crazy saves that I don’t know how many goalies in this division will make. Having a good defense in front of him, and them him making those crazy saves, it’s a continuous confidence in him.”

Coe-Brown added a goal in the second quarter to go up 5-0, but it felt to the Bears like they should have had more.

“It's a missed opportunity,” DePalma said of having lots of possession time without scoring. “I'm thinking, I hope what happened doesn't happen, but then it happens.”

Campbell got on the board twice in the third quarter, getting goals from Evan Molino and Tyler Breton but Fenton got one back for Coe-Brown in the final minute to make it 6-2 after three.

The Bears looked like they were in a good spot, too, as Breton was called for being offside at the end of the quarter, giving Coe-Brown a manup to start the fourth. But 19 seconds in, Colby Strum was called for a push, and after the first penalty expired, Campbell got another goal from Molino to make it 6-3.

Breton added his second goal just 38 seconds later, and after another faceoff win by the Cougars, Matthew DeCarli made it three Campbell goals in 61 seconds to cut the lead to 6-5.

“The energy is just infectious,” Urda said. “One goes in, then the next person wants to bury one, and then it just keep slowing, and the kids have more confidence in their shots.”

Coe-Brown won the next faceoff, but turned it over right away, and then Owen Fletcher was called for a helmet hit and given a two-minute, locked-in penalty. DeCarli scored his second goal moments later, and a penalty on the goal gave Campbell the ball and a two-manup opportunity.

“I was disappointed with the frustration we showed on the field,” DePalma said. “Kudos to Campbell. They played hard, they played aggressive, and we got frustrated. A couple of things didn’t go our way, we got more frustrated. To get to where we want to go, we’ve got to win the mental battle. In any given day, you can get into a dog fight like this one.”

With momentum on their side, the Cougars looked to take the lead, but Coe-Brown goalie Jackson Alie came up with a save. Campbell was able to regain possession, but then turned it over moments later and the Bears capitalized.

“We just realized we needed to actually slow down and play our game because every single time that we do slow down, we do a lot better,” Fenton said. “We ended up doing that.”

Coe-Brown was able to retain possession after a couple of shots, running some time off the clock, when Garrett Ward got a good look.

The ball just missed the mark, but bounced right to Fenton behind the goal, and the senior came out and appeared to surprise the defense by going straight to the crease. His low shot just got past the leg of O'Brien and rolled into the goal to put the Bears up 7-6 with 3:53 to go.

“I just saw that I had a perfect spot right around the corner,” Fenton said. “I just came over and kind of wedged my way in there and just shot it. I think they were a little surprised that I actually pushed it.”

Campbell was able to get the ball back with a chance to tie it again, but Alie came up with a save, leading to a goal by Lee with 1:39 remaining.

Fenton finished with three goals for Coe-Brown while Lee (two assists) and Sam Frye each had two goals.

“We’ve talked a lot about how, it doesn't matter what the scoreboard says, you’ve got to play with urgency all the time,” DePalma said. “I’m glad we had that experience because once you get a taste of the urgency it requires, hopefully, you don’t forget. Campbell played great, and hopefully we learn those lessons and move forward.”