Pinkerton boys lacrosse controls possession in second half to beat Exeter, advance to D1 final

EXETER - Brian O'Reilly liked what he saw when the Pinkerton Academy boys lacrosse was on offense during the first half of Tuesday's Division I semifinal.

The problem for the Astros was they weren't on offense enough in the second quarter. With possession in its favor, Exeter went on a run to tie the game and grab momentum going into halftime.

No. 2 Pinkerton solved its possession problem on the first faceoff of the second half, going on a 3-0 run in the first two minutes, and never looked back on the way to a 13-8 win over No. 3 Exeter at Bill Ball Stadium. The win sends the Astros (18-2) to the Division I championship game for the sixth year in a row, where they will face No. 1 Bishop Guertin, which beat No. 5 Londonderry in the other semifinal.

Ryan Auger led Pinkerton with five goals and an assist while Chad Teresky and Mason Drouin had two goals and two assists each, as the Astros outscored Exeter 4-0 in the third quarter and led by as many as six goals in the second half.

"It was important because we needed to get ball possessions," O'Reilly said of the run to start the second half. "We just told the offense, just do what you do. As long as we get equal possession, we can play with anybody. It’s when we don’t get possession that we run into trouble. We have got to win the faceoffs and we’ve been doing it all year."

After winning seven of 12 faceoffs in the first half, Pinkerton's Gennaro Marra won all five in the third quarter and finished 10 of 12 in the second half. Owen McCormack added two goals and Tom Sweeney and Jacob McAdams also had a goal apiece while Alex Sturgess made 10 saves, four of which came in the second quarter when Exeter (15-5) was able to maintain possession.

Mike Penna led the Blue Hawks with three goals and two assists while Dayton Christenson and David Fitzgerald (assist) had two goals each. Spencer Clark also scored and Henry Vogt made eight saves.

The Astros jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the game's first 1:12 on goals by Auger and Teresky, but a torrential downpour started right after Pinkerton's early flood of goals. Exeter was able to keep it close through the first quarter, trailing 3-2 until Sweeney scored with 34.4 seconds left in the frame.

Auger added his second goal 1:46 into the second quarter to make it 5-2, but Exeter won the ensuing faceoff and was able to keep the ball away from Pinkerton. Clark made it 5-3 with 7:50 left in the half, and after Penna scored to cut the lead to one, the senior found Christenson in front for a behind-the-back goal to tie the game.

"They did a great job of possessing the ball before they got off shots," O'Reilly said. "They put that together and it’s 5-5 at halftime. The big change in the second half was that we got equal possessions."

Marra won the opening face off and McCormack broke the tie just 49 seconds into the second half. Auger followed with back-to-back goals in 34 seconds, the second of which he scored into an open net after a shot by Drouin deflected across the crease to his stick.

"It got deflected and it landed perfectly," Auger said. "I was in the right spot. I felt like we were in control at that point. We were setting the tone.

"Coaches said just stick with it. The big thing was groundballs and getting possession, our offense would come after. I feel like that (goal) gave us a lot of momentum going into the second half. It started it for us."

Teresky scored in transition to make it 9-5 with 6:45 left in the third quarter and the Astros got two more goals early in the fourth, including a man-down goal by McAdams, to take an 11-5 lead with 8:18 to play.

Exeter got within four goals twice the rest of the way, but couldn't get any closer.

Pinkerton will be playing in its 19th championship game, and looking for its 11th title, when it faces Bishop Guertin at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Exeter.