Nauset Boys Lacrosse Falls In Semifinals

HYANNIS – In the end, the Warriors had already established one first for the boys lacrosse team as they sought, for the second year in a row, to reach a place no other team in the Nauset program’s history had ever been.

For the second straight season, the Warriors reached the semifinals of the Division 3 state tournament — something never done before at Nauset. But in attempting to become the first boys lacrosse team at the school to reach the state finals, Nauset lost to Falmouth 14-3 Wednesday in the final four clash between fellow Cape and Islands League members.

“I’m proud of these guys,” head coach Jesse Peno said. “We want to take that next step, and we’ll get there. We’re building. We’re still building. We’re fairly new in this, and it’s just a credit to how hard these guys work, back-to-back years.”

No. 3 seed Falmouth (14-5) scored a minute and 20 seconds into the game and from there continued to consistently win faceoffs and score. Missing from the lineup of No. 2 seed Nauset (14-4) was senior Logan Poulin, who was in Wisconsin trying out for the Green Bay Gamblers of the United States Hockey League. Nauset expected Poulin’s absence, according to Peno, and needed to — but wasn’t able to — overcome it.

“You can’t really plan on not having a guy like that,” Peno said. “He brings so much, whether it’s ground balls, whether it’s shooting, whether it’s defense, whether it’s just hustle, so we missed him for sure, but it’s not on one guy.”

For the Warriors, seniors Joey Berardi, Michael Flynn and Sawyer McCutchen scored. Berardi’s goal to cut the score to 2-1 in the first quarter was the closest Nauset would get to matching the pace of Falmouth, which followed by scoring three times in a minute to finish the period.

Peno said he was proud of how hard the Warriors — who got looks at the net but were never really able to convert them into goals — had played.

“They’ve had a great season,” he said. “The loss here doesn’t define who they are. Didn’t go our way. We didn’t make enough plays. They started fast. We didn’t match it, but we’re proud of them. They had an incredible year. This senior group is one of the most cohesive ones we’ve had.”

Senior goalkeeper Zach Coelho held firm through an unrelenting Falmouth barrage, at one point in the third quarter recording multiple saves in a few seconds. During that sequence, Coelho entirely stuffed and swallowed up a Falmouth shot from a player standing right in front of the net.

He said back-to-back final four appearances were “definitely special.”

“There was nothing really to lose, so my last game ever playing lacrosse, leave it all out there, give it my best shot,” Coelho said. “That’s what I was just trying to do.”

Not three months ago, Coelho and several others on the team won a state title in hockey. The very next day, Peno said, lacrosse season began.

“That’s a grind, and it’s just incredible what he does and what he brings to the team,” Peno said.

The team graduates Coelho, Poulin, McCutchen, Berardi, Flynn, Owen White, Andrew Bohannon, Jake Everson, Fin Mayhew, Aaron Rogers and Mason Santos.

Coelho said he “couldn’t ask for a better group of guys to do it with.”

“I’ll never forget them,” he said.