Big third quarter propels Mepham

Eight straight goals by host Mepham propelled it to victory against cross-town rival Calhoun, 13-10, in a boys’ varsity lacrosse matchup on April 18.

With the win, the Pirates improved to 3-6 overall (2-2 conference), while the Colts fell to 2-7 overall (1-3 conference.)

Trailing 8-4 late in the second, Mepham turned it on defensively, and held the Colts scoreless for nearly two full quarters. “We played aggressively,” Mepham coach James Koester said. “We made mistakes, but we got after the ground ball, and offensively, we did a nice job pushing it and being patient when we needed to be.”

Pirates’ midfielder Matt Byrne totaled seven points, scoring one goal and assisting on six others. Attackman Chris Vento led the scoring for Mepham with four goals, also contributing two assists. 

Calhoun got off to a hot start, scoring three goals in just over a minute midway through the first quarter. Kyle McGinley, Tony Cardinal and Cole Kalibat all solved Mepham goaltender Brandon Lazarus, who came up big in the second half.

A goal by Vento got Mepham on the board, and two teams exchanged goals until the score was 5-4 in favor of Calhoun. But the Colts went on another run, with three straight goals, two by McGinley and one by T.J. Marrapodi.

And then the Pirates put it all together. After two late second-quarter goals, Mepham outscored Calhoun 5-0 in the third, with two goals by Vento and goals by A.J. Heller, Yianni Hilas and Chris Durkin. Lazarus, meanwhile, found his game as well, stopping several Calhoun shots. “He got stronger as the game went on. He played real well,” Koester said of Lazarus. 

Vento added his last goal in the fourth, putting it past Colts goaltender Matt Lemonis to cap the 8-0 run and put the score at 12-8. Finally, Brian Downey scored a goal with 6:30 remaining in the fourth, ending the Colts’ 20-minute scoreless drought. 

“We hit the pipe a couple of times. We hit the goalie in the facemask a couple of times, and [Mepham] got a couple of transition goals,” Calhoun coach Jim Femminella said. “Defense has been our strong point all year long. I think that sometimes we weren’t sliding, and we weren’t sticking with the game plan. That hurt us today.”

The two teams traded goals late in the fourth quarter to conclude the scoring.

“We did a better job as the game went on with the face-offs, and we got a little momentum there,” Koester said. “It was a great win.”