Lincoln-Sudbury 'played with a bit of fear' in boys lacrosse loss to No. 1 St. John's Prep
SUDBURY - Brian Vona witnessed a rarity. When your team has enjoyed as much success as his, Tuesday’s performance is put in its own category.
In a matchup pitting the two top boys lacrosse teams in Division 1 – squads that have combined to win seven of the past eight state titles – Lincoln-Sudbury fell behind by six goals on three occasions to St. John’s Prep.
And despite a late rally ignited by defenseman/captain Peter Rossi’s goal, L-S fell to No. 1 SJP, 10-6, on the warmest afternoon of 2024.
Prep (12-1), which has lost just three times over the past three seasons and has won three state championships in a row, scored the game’s first four goals and was in control throughout.
L-S dropped to 7-5 and is in the midst of tough stretch of opponents that has yielded mixed results. The Warriors (No. 2 in the MIAA’s power rankings), have defeated No. 7 Needham and blanked No. 9 Reading (Division 2). But they were edged by Duxbury (No. 1 in D2) and Winchester (No. 9) by a combined three goals.
Up next is a road trip to Longmeadow (11-1, No. 4 in Div. 2) on Saturday. By then, Vona hopes to erase Tuesday’s uneasy feeling.
“Honestly, I think we played with a little bit of fear today,” the Lincoln-Sudbury coach said. “We just have to lose that. Not everyone, but we had some kids play with a little bit of fear and we’re not used to seeing that at L-S. We’re going to work on that. Our schedule just doesn’t give us time.”
St. John’s Prep kept the Warriors at arm’s length with an offense that quickly capitalized on L-S' errors near the Prep goal. The afternoon’s theme was never more obvious than when the Eagles scored just seven seconds after Rex Friedholm’s goal late in the third quarter to restore their six-goal advantage.
“They really just came out punching,” said Rossi. “They’re a great team and they came out right away and we got punched in the face and we didn’t punch back. We were on our heels the whole game.”
Prep’s only loss this season was to Staples, Connecticut, which was ranked the No. 1 public school in the nation earlier this spring by USA Lacrosse.
“They’re athletic and they executed,” Vona said of St. John's Prep. “That’s it. They executed every time we made a mistake, and that’s the mark of a winning team.”
After the Eagles gained a 9-3 lead midway through the final quarter, Rossi, a long-stick D-man, turned defense into offense and bounced in a goal with 2 minutes, 30 seconds remaining. With the sideline yelling “every goal counts!” Nolan Martindale and Friedholm scored over the final 73 seconds to give the Warriors their most productive offensive showing of the game.
Kaeden Ryan and Drew Laguerre also scored for L-S.
“That’s just our effort,” Rossi said. “We never want to stop no matter what the scoreboard says. If we’re down 20 goals or we’re up 10 goals, we always want to go hard no matter what. That’s our team’s motto: effort over everything.”
The schedule does not let up, but neither does the will to play against top competition.
“We can play with anyone in the state,” Rossi said. “We’ve just got to throw the first punch and not be timid.”
Tim Dumas is a multimedia journalist for the Daily News. He can be reached attdumas@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @TimDumas.
This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: No.2 L-S boys lacrosse falls to No. 1 St. John's Prep, 10-6
