The 2010 Ledyard boys lacrosse team was two wins away from ending one of its best seasons in school history with a state title.
That is, until the top-seeded Colonels fell to fifth-seeded St. Joseph on June 8.
Almost a year later, Ledyard got another shot against the Cadets, but one of the Eastern Connecticut Conference’s best teams was overmatched by an aggressive squad on Saturday and upset in the Class S state tournament for the second straight year, 8-1.
Twelfth-seeded St. Joseph won the opening faceoff of the quarterfinal game, dominated time of possession in the first period and had already scored once and fired six shots on goal before the fourth-seeded Colonels took their first shot of the game 7 minutes, 12 seconds in.
Most of Ledyard’s possessions on the offensive end led to quick turnovers.
“We were a little bit overaggressive on offense and it led to turnovers and missed opportunities and then they got the ball back on offense,” Ledyard coach Brian Martin said.
“It was three or four minutes before we got another shot.”
With 3:58 remaining in the second period, Jonathan Schilke found Michael Delia in front of the net for Ledyard’s lone goal. The Colonels went into the half trailing, 3-1, and were outshot, 16-8.
St. Joseph found the back of the net four times in the third quarter. The Cadets dominated possession, not allowing Ledyard’s offense to touch the ball until there was 6:24 remaining in the period. They added one more goal in the fourth.
Mike Marini had a hat trick and assist to lead the team.
“The kids were patient with the ball. They weren’t overzealous. They dodged hard, made their looks and did a good job of just reading it and going,” St. Joseph coach Joe Izzo said. “The advantage of that is you’re taking the clock, too.
“The kids were really patient (Saturday), which was impressive. It impresses me because it is hard to take a high school kid and tell him to be patient.”
Ledyard seemed out of sync when it finally did get chances around the goal. Senior Connor Sweet said his young team didn’t attack the defense enough.
“I don’t think it was the passing as much as it was confidence,” Sweet said. “We didn’t necessarily go out there and try to score. We just dodged around the outside.”
Sweet said the Cadets weren’t the most physical team he played against this season, but St. Joseph made a number of tough, physical plays throughout the game and even collected their share of penalty time.
“They played very aggressive,” Martin said. “It’s not something we are used to seeing in the ECC. The ECC doesn’t play as aggressive as they do. There is no easy route to the goal. There is no easy pass. They make everything difficult and make you work for everything.”
The Somers High School boys lacrosse team ended its magical run on Wednesday with a 15-6 loss in the semifinals of the Class S state tournament against St. Joseph at West Haven High School.
The loss was the first of the year for the Spartans.
Somers goalie, senior Dan Bell, had all he could handle while making twenty saves on the night with many coming from point blank opportunities. Bell held the Spartans in the game as long as he could but seven goals from the Cadets in the fourth quarter were just too much power for the Spartans' defense.
Zach Thresher played well for the Spartans' attack and played a role in five of the six goals for Somers. Thresher finished the game with three goals, the first three of the game for Somers, and two assists.
Neil Cardwell and Donny Whittle scored the other goals for the Spartans (17-1).
No. 12 St. Joseph (11-8) jumped out quickly on the top seeded Spartans taking a 4-1 lead after the first quarter. But the Spartans would not give up their undefeated streak that easily, and outscored the Cadets in the second quarter 3-1 to close the gap to a 5-4 St. Joseph lead at halftime.
With the second half up for grabs and a spot in the Class S State Championship game on the line, the Cadets took it upon themselves to take it to the Spartans. As the game got more physical, St. Joseph just got better.
In a low scoring but hard hitting third quarter, the Cadets got goals from Pat Mulligan, Pat Corcoran, and Brian Bacarella to widen the gap to 8-5 going into the fourth and final quarter.
With the game still in reach for Somers, the Cadets slammed the door on the Spartans when St. Joseph attacker Lance Hunt had a strong individual effort and sent a wicked shot into the upper corner of the net behind Bell to give the Cadets a 9-5 lead.
St. Joseph would never look back and continued on a nine straight goal streak before Somers finally scored their sixth goal from Tyler Russell.
Bacarella, Mike Marini and Tom Battaglia each had hat tricks for the Cadets. Mulligan and Bob Ciotti both had two goals for St. Joseph while Peter Vallerie also added one.
The loss on Wednesday ends a special season for the Spartans in which they went undefeated for 17 straight games.
The Spartans have eleven seniors on the team that they will be saying goodbye to.
