St. John's (Shrewsbury) Wins a Thriller Against Wakefield

By Joe Fantozzi (@joe_fantozzi35)

Shrewsbury, Mass. - Host St. John's (Shrewsbury) won a chippy affair against visiting Wakefield Monday, overcoming an early deficit to steal the game in the final 35 seconds and prevail 8-7.

"We just have to show up to the games on the schedule," senior Ben Scharf said. "Once we got comfortable out there, we started to click."

The Warriors opened up the scoring when senior Bobby Keegan’s shot found the back of the net. St. John’s was over-extending on defense, which allowed for the Warriors to have the upper hand early. Sophomore Mason Burns also took advantage to give the Warriors a 2-0 lead early. 

Wakefield racked up two penalties, putting the Warriors down tow men for the final minute of the period. Captain Jack Donahue broke the ice for the Pioneers by scoring from atop the crease and cutting the deficit to one goal.  

The Warriors then jumped back on the attack. 

Robert Guida and Booby Keegan netted two early shots. Carrying a three goal lead, Wakefield had all the momentum going through the middle and offensive side of the field. Sophomore Owen Boss came through for the Pioneers and scored his first in the game. Alec Dawson had a nifty backwards shot which cut the lead to just one goal. Senior captain Ryan Fitzpatrick had a buzzer beater that gave the Warriors a one goal advantage heading into the second half.

The Pioneer attack really showed up in the third quarter. Owen Boss scored twice, giving him a hat trick on the day, while Jack Donahue scored his second of the day to give the Pioneers their first lead at 6-5.

They came close to losing the lead, but as final minute was ticking off the scoreboard, sophomore Tim Licroix broke a 7-7 tie and gave the Pioneers the lead with 35 seconds left in the game. The Pioneers defense then shut down the Warriors to secure the win.