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05/28/2014 12:00 AMOne of the big stories in the SCC this spring has been Hand boys' lacrosse's revitalization after its 1-6 start to the year, and the Tigers put the perfect exclamation point on their turnaround in the regular season's final chapter.
The Tigers defeated Stonington 14-5 on Senior Night on May 19 at the Surf Club to complete a second-half run that has seen Hand take seven of its final nine contests following the slow start. After the Tigers raced out to a quick 6-0 lead following the first quarter, the Bears cut it to a five-score hole until 3:36 remaining in the third when senior Brooks Sperry notched the third of his four goals on the night to also ignite a stretch by the home squad in which it scored seven unanswered tallies.
"We moved the ball around well and could find the open guy pretty easily; we had guys coming around the cage, and we were able to find the open guy cutting into the middle," said Sperry. "Coach told us that we didn't do too good a job in the second quarter, so we started getting back to what we did in the beginning with working the ball around and finding the open man and getting it into the net."
Joining Sperry on the scoring sheet were sophomore Reid Sweitzer (3 goals), senior captain Mike Cinicolo (2), junior Ben Solin (2), along with senior Charles Maynard, junior Clay Sweitzer, and senior Tim O'Brien (each with 1) to help Hand finish the regular slate at .500 following its subpar start.
"We've definitely come back and turned things around since the beginning of the season," said Cinicolo. "We've just been coming together as a team; the defense has been showing up to play, we switched keepers, and that has been a significant influence on the game. Plus, we are scoring goals."
Hand (8-8) got things started off right with shared scoring duties among Reid Sweitzer (at 11:27 remaining), Maynard (at the 9:58 mark), Clay Sweitzer 53 ticks later, and Solin (6:29) to take a fast 4-0 edge not even six minutes into the matchup. Sperry then put in two swift scores in during the period's final 2:31, including one off a nice intercept by junior Taylor Houghton for the first, to end the period with the Tigers up a half dozen.
Stonington (8-6) got on the board 41 seconds into the next period and hold Hand off the board until Solin hustled down and rifled a shot inside the 30 yard-line with two ticks left to put the Tigers' command at 7-1 for the intermission.
The Bears tacked on another one at the 5:49 juncture for the third and get within five, although Sperry started the Hand resurgence just over two minutes later with his third of the evening. The Tigers then owned possession of the game's next six balls that entered the net thanks to shots by Cinicolo (twice, including one on a two-man advantage), O'Brien with 58 ticks to play in the third, Reid Sweitzer 1:12 into the final frame, Sperry with just over nine minutes to go, and Reid Sweitzer again to finish off his hat trick.
"Guys were just trying to force things and were getting excited; people were trying to go to the goal by themselves with everyone else standing around," said first-year Head Coach Paul Deon, who previously coached at Stonington from 2010-2012, winning Class S Coach of the Year honors in 2011. "We went back to playing as a team. Defensively, we were pressing out there, trying to get on our men, and disrupting things. Our plan tonight was to come out aggressive and see what we could get away with."
Stonington played until the final whistle by earning three straight goals in the match's final 4:09, but it was too little, too late for the road club, as Hand finished off a 7-2 second-half run to its year.
"It's been all the same things as tonight; we've been playing as a team. We also corrected things in transition. Unfortunately, we were doing things early on this year that were causing trouble," said Deon on his team's resurgence. "[Freshman netminder] Pat Burkinshaw [10 saves in the victory] has stepped up, played outstanding, and has been a big addition. All the way through, the whole team is coming together and the guys are finding themselves; it just took a little later than usual."
Additional seniors honored on the evening prior to the game were Tim D'Annolfo, Elliot Osso, Stefan Pelletier, Alec Reed, Seamus Reilly, Pat Rogers, and Ryan Terrio.
The Tigers now ready themselves for the postseason, and Sperry feels that if Hand can consistently get the ball off the opening draw, then there aren't many squads that can keep up with the Tigers.
"We just have to keep winning the face-off game, which is going to help a lot," said Sperry. "We need to win those face-offs, get possession, and just put it in the back of the net like we know we can."