The Amherst boys lacrosse team’s quest at back-to-back Western Mass. Class B championships ended in a flash as Pope Francis scored a last-minute strike to secure a 7-6 victory at Berte Stadium at Springfield Central on Saturday afternoon.
Tied 6-6 late in the fourth quarter, both squads had chances to put the dagger in its opponent with possession in the attacking end, but passing miscues were rampant as time was ticking away.
The Hurricanes appeared to have all the momentum after knotting the game up at 6-6 in the waning minutes, but an errant pass gave the Cardinals another chance, and this time the top-seeded squad took advantage.
Pope Francis scored the game-winner on an under-handed flick from just outside the crease that eluded Amherst goalie Jason Kim. The Cardinals game-winning tally came with 22 seconds showing on the scoreboard, proving to be too late for the second-seeded ‘Canes to overcome.
“We had a tough first half,” Amherst head coach Rich Ferro said. “We were jittery. It’s a finals game and it’s hard to prep for those sometimes, mentally, we weren’t quite there in the first half. But I’m super proud of how they came back in the second half, individually, all of us, including me. We’re going to look back and be like ‘oh I wish I hadn’t done that there, I wish I hadn’t have dropped that ball, but we kept battling up until the last second.”
Ferro felt his team’s performance in the second quarter, in particular, wasn’t up to snuff. Following a feeling-out process in the first quarter that saw three goals altogether, the Cardinals built a 5-2 advantage by the halftime break, outscoring Amherst, 4-0.
“We made some mistakes,” Ferro said. “We threw balls away, we threw balls to the other team, we let them push us out of bounds, just some things like that. We got into our heads and we didn’t respond as quickly as we needed them to.”
Tri Nguyen was one of a few Hurricanes who looked composed for the entire 48-minute affair as the senior led Amherst in points (two goals, two assists) in the defeat.
“Tri is awesome,” Ferro said. “I’ve been coaching most of these guys since they were little kids, because my son [Sawyer] is a junior this year, so I’ve had a lot of them since they were literally 6 years old. It’s a really good group of guys and they back each other up.”
Nate Desbien (two goals) also found twine twice for the ‘Canes, while Kim turned in a grade-A performance in goal, finishing with 11 saves.
Saturday’s sectional tilt was the rubber match between Amherst and Pope Francis this season, with each team winning at home during Valley League play.
With that, Ferro expected a high-intensity bout between two opponents familiar with each other.
“I knew this was going to be a battle coming into it,” Ferro said. “We came out strong and then that second quarter was not where we needed it to be.”
Luckily for the ‘Canes, their season continues on as they’ll receive a bid into the MIAA Division 3 state tournament.
Amherst (10-7) appears to be headed for a preliminary round game, with exact date and time to be announced.
Pope Francis improved to 15-3 overall.
