Pinkerton boys lacrosse bounces back with statement win over Londonderry (video)

DERRY - Kyle Zirn didn't just get himself off the schneid with his goal in Tuesday's boys lacrosse game.

He may have woken up the Pinkerton Academy offense as a whole.

Zirn scored his first goal of the year on his eighth try and the long-pole goal jumped started the Astros, as they ran off five more after that in less than four minutes, taking control of the game on the way to a 17-5 win over Londonderry in the Division I regular-season finale for both teams.

Pinkerton (10-8, No. 4 in the NHHSSports Coaches Poll) got a big game from many of its seniors in their final home game, as Colby Gagnon added four goals and two assists. Braydon Bourque the assist on Zirn's goal, while Jon Muncey and Jason Santuccio helped lead a defensive effort that held Londonderry scoreless for long stretches.

"Starting the game out with those seniors, and seeing the energy they gave, that level stayed the whole game," Pinkerton coach Steven Gaudreau said. "I knew those guys would come out and they stepped up huge. Colby Gagnon, who has worked so hard this year and has really emerged for us, he had an awesome game. All our seniors, hats off to them, they stepped up when we needed to and put us in a good position to win the game."

Michael Uber and Ryan Lynch each had three goals and an assist and Joey Gallo also scored three times. Matt Feole added two goals and Matt Morrison had a goal and an assist. Curtis Michaud had seven saves and Cole Frank won 21 of 23 faceoffs.

But it was Zirn's goal that really seemed to get the Astros going.

Pinkerton entered the game having lost four in a row, and in two of those games, had scored fewer than five goals. With senior Riley Spellman out for a third straight game, the Astros needed someone to step up.

"Pole goals are always big momentum goals," Zirn said. "It’s what I do a lot and I’ve been unlucky this year. I was 0 for 7, but I was still running up. I had a lot of faith in Braydon (Bourque) to get it down the field.

"I have faith in myself in transition, I know I can shoot it, I know I can score. I got it and I just started lining up, I didn’t care if the kid was coming to slide, I was shooting it past the goalie. It went in and I was happy as ever."

That gave Pinkerton a 2-0 lead a little more than four minutes into the game, and it didn't take long for the Astros to double that lead. Gagnon and Lynch scored a minute apart to make it 4-0 with 6:26 left in the opening quarter.

After some back-and-forth play in the midfield, Uber netted his first to make it 5-0, starting a run of three goals in 41 seconds to give Pinkerton a 7-0 lead it carried into the second quarter. Lynch added another goal 1:21 into the second to make it 8-0 before Londonderry could answer on a goal by Nate Pedrick.

Unlike the loss on Monday to Nashua South, Pinkerton was able to keep Londonderry (12-6, No. 6) from setting up long possessions.

"We knew we could pressure them," Zirn said. "We have a lot of good poles and shorties and we knew we could play out on some of their kids. When they got it, we played out to make them make decisions. In the first half, they were struggling."

The Astros took a 12-2 lead into halftime, and after John Baumann scored just 13 seconds into the third quarter, Pinkerton increased its lead to 15-3, getting the game into running time.

"For us, we’ve been able to put up big numbers against good teams," Gaudreau said. "We’ve spent time trying to figure out how to fill some holes due to injury. We’ve had to deal with a lot of adversity and we’ve played a lot of good teams. We certainly have learned a lot about ourselves."