Derryfield boys lacrosse withstands second-half surge by Goffstown (video)

GOFFSTOWN - The Derryfield School boys lacrosse team was watching a comfortable lead slip away in the second half of Friday's game.

Up as many as seven goals early in the third quarter, the Cougars lead was down to just three early in the fourth against Goffstown when the team's seniors stepped up.

Chas Dean and Ryan Etzo both scored goals in the fourth quarter, and Etzo assisted on another, while goalie Ryan Caparelli had a couple of saves down the stretch to help lead Derryfield to a 15-9 win over the Grizzlies in a Division II matchup.

Goffstown's Kyle Auger scored with 10:20 remaining to make it 12-9, and to that point, the Grizzlies had outscored the Cougars 5-1 in the second half. But after Goffstown won the faceoff, Derryfield got the ball back and Etzo found freshman Chili Cabot for the Cougars' first goal in over 13 minutes.

Dean made it 14-9 with 6:25 to play, and after a save by Caparelli, Etzo scored at the other end to put the game away with 4:27 remaining.

"It got a little flat," Derryfield coach Chris Hettler said. "The danger of getting up so big early, how do you keep that momentum going? When you have a limited roster, you expend so much energy to get that lead, how do you keep it going?

"I was proud of my guys. It started to get tight and they didn’t get tight. They got some goals to break that momentum when we needed to."

Alex Murray led Derryfield (3-0) with four goals and an assist while Quinn Silvio had three goals, Dean had two goals and three assists and Etzo had two goals and two assists. Cabot added two goals and an assist while Cole Giersch also scored.

Liam Hill and Caparelli split time in goal, with Hill making five saves and Caparelli nine.

Auger finished with three goals and an assist for Goffstown (2-2) and Andy Mason also had three goals. Joshua Beegan added two goals while Ethan Hansen scored and John Erwin had an assist.

Down 8-2 early in the second quarter and 11-4 going into halftime, the Grizzlies came out ready to play in the second half.

"I think we showed a lot of heart, particularly in the second half," Goffstown coach Bill Lawson said. "It would have been easy to quit at that point and they didn’t. That’s a big thing. We made some adjustments to what they had adjusted to. It worked out for us."

The Grizzlies also got a big game from goalie Grady Chretien, who finished with 11 saves and helped keep Goffstown in the game at times.

"Grady is a great kid and he plays hard no matter what," Lawson said. "There was one little thing we were trying to adjust with him that, coach Hettler being a goalie, was trying to take advantage of. They still got us a couple of times of it, but for the most part, I have no complaints about Grady. He plays hard every day and keeps us in games."

Chretien did enough through the first half that when Goffstown made a run in the third, it was able to get back in the game.

Goals by Mason, Hansen and Auger helped the Grizzlies cut the lead to 12-8 with 5:11 remaining in the third quarter. Goffstown had a shot for more late in the quarter, when Derryfield turned the ball over and then Silvio called for a delay of game penalty.

With a 30-second manup opportunity, the Grizzlies worked for a shot, but Caparelli came up with a save and moments later, Hansen was called for an unnecessary hit.

The Cougars were called for another penalty early in the fourth, and while they were able to kill it off, Auger scored seconds after it ended to make it a three-goal game.

"Credit to Goffstown, they fought hard all the way through," Hettler said. "They could have packed it in and they didn’t. Typical Goffstown team, they kept on fighting until the end and capitalized on our mistakes."