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WORCESTER, Mass. — The dream season for the Algonquin Regional High School boys' lacrosse team ended in a nightmare Friday night as they fell to Concord-Carlisle, 13-3, in the Division 2 State Championship game.
The traditionally slow-starting team followed suit. digging themselves a 6-0 hole after one quarter; however this time they were unable to climb back out.
"They just came out swinging, firing on all cylinders scoring six goals in the first quarter and at that point, it's really hard to comeback," said Algonquin Senior Attacker and All American Conor Healey
The Patriots' two man wrecking crew of Senior Jackson Finigan and Freshman Will Blumenberg were too much for Algqonquin, combining for 11 of Concord-Carlisle’s 13 goals.
Algonquin’s mismatch in size on the offensive end spelled trouble from the first draw as there were very few scoring and passing lanes for the Tomahawks to work with, thanks to the size of the Patriots defense.
"They are enormous, they are really good at defense and they have a great goalie so it was tough," said Healey.
Algonquin’s Mike Wood tallied two of the three goals for the team. Davis Kraft scoring the the other.
Despite the loss, Algonquin still believes that heading to a title game for a second consecutive year is something to build upon, a jumping off point for achieving the ultimate goal in the future of a state championship.
"This was a tough one to take on the chin, but it is good for the program," said Algonquin Head Coach Rich Luongo. "It’s a lesson learned. I feel bad for the seniors because they don’t have a chance to do this again, but my underclassmen will learn from this and we will move on as a coaching staff and get better."
Algonquin will be blessed by returning a lot of talented players which will make the transition to next year easier; however there are a few large shoes to fill with players like Healey and defenseman Patrick Murphy and midfielder Dave McGovern.
"We graduate nine seniors and five pretty good players," Luongo said. "We gotta figure out how to replace Conor Healey. That's not easy to do. We have to fill Patrick Murphy’s role on defense, he’s my captain, he’s my helm, he’s the guy that runs the D and a few others, McGovern up top as well.”
The successes of the program this season have not been lost on seniors like Healey, who know that despite the loss there was definitely something special about their run this season and last.
“It didn’t end the way we wanted but it has still been a very successful season," Healy said. "We made it back to the state finals. Our goal was to win but we still achieved a lot, won districts, went 22-2. So, I mean, no complaints."
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