By Michael Abelson (@ABELS0N)
SUDBURY - It took a while for the Lincoln-Sudbury offense to click, but once it did it was all over for Acton-Boxboro.
The Warriors scored the final nine goals of the game, including six in the third quarter, to roll past their Dual County League rivals 13-3. The win was Lincoln-Sudbury's 45th consecutive victory over in-state competition, a streak that began after the Warriors lost to Acton-Boxboro in the 2014 Division 1 North finals by a single goal.
L-S blew this game open midway through the third quarter when the Warriors scored three goals in 21 seconds to turn a 6-3 game into a 9-3 rout.
The key to the outburst was Matt Ward. The super soph assisted on all three goals, as well as the next goal, just before the end of the quarter. Ward also had a goal in the first quarter
“Matt’s getting there, and he’s learning from the older kids,” Lincoln-Sudbury coach Brian Vona said of Ward. “The older kids do share the ball a lot. I think Matty fits right in with those kids. There’s a lot of unselfish players on the team so I’d say he’s progressing wonderfully.”
Ward was the spark for the Warriors in the third, but the offense flowed through Hayden Frey all game. The senior attackman had six goals for L-S to pace the offense.
“What really helped us was our transition game,” Frey said. “We executed well on those and got goals.”
Brett Williams added two goals and two assists for L-S.
Lincoln-Sudbury jumped to a 4-1 lead after a quarter before Acton locked down defensively and chipped away on the other end. The Colonials held L-S scoreless in the second quarter and cut the gap to two goals just before halftime, thanks to a marker from Jake Erickson.
Tim Kuta made it a 4-3 game with a goal 1:27 into the third quarter, but Frey scored 28 seconds later to open the floodgates for Lincoln-Sudbury.
For Acton-Boxboro the problem was simply that the Colonials didn’t possess the ball. L-S won the faceoff battle 15-9, ground balls 29-9, and were plus-3 in turnovers. The Colonial defense was able to hold off L-S early, but the lack of offensive possession time wore them out.
L-S also outshot Acton 12-1 during its big third quarter.
“They run a really good ride, and we had a clear set up for that,” Acton-Boxboro coach Pat Ammendolia said. “They made an adjustment, we didn’t make an adjustment to that adjustment, and by the time we did it was too late. The time of possessions was probably double of what we had.”
When Acton was able to possess, the Lincoln-Sudbury defense made life difficult for the Colonials. L-S forced 19 Colonial turnovers, which in turn generated offense in transition.
Longpoles Brendan Trovato and Peter Rizzotti both jumped in on the attack and scored goals for the Warriors.
“They’re what drives us,” Frey said of the defensive unit. “If they play well, we play well. The defense creates a lot of offensive opportunities. In transition their creating fast breaks, creating offense.”
Despite taking the loss Acton-Boxboro goalie Tim Fenniman looked sharp in making 10 saves. L-S goalie Trevor Van Leer turned aside seven shots himself.
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