By Allison Goldsmith
I&M Sports Editor
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Photo by Nicole Harnishfeger
Hakeem Lecky puts a stick-check on Marshfield goalie Matthew Bak, who made a run out of the net during Saturday’s 12-4 Rams victory over the Whalers.
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Mark Dwyer scored four times to lead the boys lacrosse team to victory over New Bedford 12-4 last Thursday. The Whalers also dropped a non-league contest to Marshfield 11-4 at home Saturday.
Nantucket maintained an even record at 4-4 overall on the season and improved its Maritime League mark to 3-2 overall with the win over New Bedford.
The Whalers postponed two games this week: Monday’s league game against Dartmouth has been rescheduled for Saturday, May 19 due to a field-space conflict and Friday’s rain-out against Weston was scheduled to be played yesterday, too late for this edition of Sports.
Next up for Nantucket, the Whalers will travel to Bishop Connolly today before welcoming tops-in-the-state Cohasset to the island on Sunday.
Against Marshfield at home Saturday the Rams capitalized on man-advantage situations and used their unrelenting defense to keep the Whalers from piling up the points.
“I thought we probably could have played more zone defense against them. When we did we really slowed them down. That is something I could have done a little better,” head coach Rick Blair said. “Early in the game we were playing them real competitively, but once again a few things made a difference. They were a much stronger outside-shooting team than we are, and they scored on their penalty plays and we didn’t.”
The Whalers had 15 penalties in the game, which Marshfield converted for five goals. The Rams also scored one short-handed goal. Goalie Keith Clemens made 11 saves on 22 shots on goal, while the Whalers put 12 shots on Marshfield goalie Matthew Bak.
Nantucket stayed close in the first half, trailing only 6-2 at the break.
Gaven Norton scored the first of two goals on the day, picking up a ground ball and burying it in the back of the net with 1:46 remaining in the first period. In the second period Norton fed Henry Farrell, who converted the shot.
“In the first half we did a pretty good job winning face-offs and picking up ground balls. We were deliberate in our half-field offense and we were communicating and sliding well on defense,” Blair said. “In the second half a majority of the goals we gave up were a result of misplays – we dropped a pass on a clear, we allowed a short-handed goal,” Blair said.
In the third quarter Marshfield scored on three man-advantage situations and one short-handed situation to go up 10-2. Will Martin and Dwyer added goals with under a minute remaining, but the Rams had already sealed the victory.
Comeback victory
Against New Bedford last Thursday the Whalers fell behind early.
“They came out strong. We were shooting the ball really poorly. I think we took about 16 shots in the first half and kept hitting the goalie in the stick or in the feet,” Blair said.
New Bedford led 4-3 at the half before things started turning around for Nantucket.
“We came out in the third quarter and started shooting the ball a little better and rotated the ball to the backside a little better and scored six unanswered goals in the third and three unanswered in the fourth,” Blair said.
Dwyer led the way with four goals, while Martin and Hakeem Lecky (one assist) scored twice each. Farrell scored once and had a team-high four assists. Norton, Matt Dunham (two assists) and Josh Holdgate also scored.
Clemens needed only seven saves in goal to earn the victory, most of those coming in the first half.
“They didn’t really take any shots in the second half. We played pretty well on defense, any time you hold a team scoreless,” Blair said, noting the play of Eric Rogers on defense and Joe Bopp in the midfield.
Reach Allison Goldsmith at sports@inkym.com
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