MIAA boys lacrosse: Amherst’s halftime adjustments lead to comfortable 15-7 victory over Middleborough in Div. 3 prelims

AMHERST — The No. 30 Amherst boys lacrosse team’s halftime adjustments led to a 15-7 victory over No. 35 Middleborough in the MIAA Division 3 state tournament preliminary round at Gooding Field on Thursday night.

Heading into the break up 6-4, the Hurricanes weren’t comfortable, knowing that despite holding the lead, better play on both ends was going to be needed to keep the Sachems at bay.

Focusing especially on the defensive side, Amherst head coach Rich Ferro made sure to go through some changes with his group, hoping to pull away in the third quarter.

“I think we just weren’t quite dialed in at the beginning of the game,” Ferro said. “Where exactly we needed to be, pressing out on the ball, where we needed to be getting it on the backside. We figured some of that stuff out, literally going out on the field at the half to walk through some scenarios.”

The adjustments made an immediate difference, with Middleborough struggling to find scoring chances as the second half got underway. On the other end, the Hurricanes’ offense also cleaned up some mistakes to strengthen the lead.

Through the first 10 minutes of the third quarter, Amherst was nearly flawless, scoring four unanswered goals to pull ahead by six. A goal from the Sachems late in the frame made it 10-5 in favor of the Hurricanes, who had cracked the code to success on the defensive end.

“Our defense played much better in the second half,” Ferro said. “Offensively, we stopped throwing the ball away; we ran our offense. We’ve got a bunch of guys in different places, but we came together.”

Another big piece to the puzzle of keeping the ball out of the net for Amherst came in the play of goalie Jason Kim. The senior made multiple outstanding saves to maintain the lead for his team down the stretch.

“[Kim] makes amazing saves up close, that should be goals, and keeps us in games when we’re not doing as well,” Ferro said. “He’s just played solid for us for four years.
I can’t say anything better about [Kim]. He’s the guy, for sure.”

With Kim and the defense at the top of their game, the Hurricanes continued to have success through the fourth quarter, again outscoring Middleborough for the fourth quarter in a row, this time 5-2.

As the final buzzer sounded, 15 goals were on the board for Amherst, led by the play of Tri Nguyen. The senior was dominant with the ball on his stick on the offensive end all night long, tallying a goal in each quarter for four total in the win.

“When [Nguyen] settled, and he moved his feet, then used his athleticism to get by the guy, clearly, nobody can stay with him,” Ferro said. “He came through and put the ball away for us, which was great.”

The Hurricanes did well to spread the scoring out for the most part on Thursday, with eight different players finding the back of the net in the victory.

Brian Sibrian Cruz was the only other player to put together a hat trick for Amherst, picking up two early goals and burying a pass/shot hybrid that went through traffic in the third quarter before going down with an injury in the final frame.

“[Sibrian Cruz] being able to step in and then put the ball away and put it on net was definitely big,” Ferro said. “Even that floater there, but it’s on goal. That’s what happens, when
you put the ball on the net, that’s what happens.”

At the end of the night, a scuffle broke out between the two teams that could have some implications for an already diminished Hurricanes roster moving forward.

Thursday night’s win moves Amherst on to the Round of 32, with a juggernaut of an opponent next on the docket. No. 3 Scituate is set to host the Hurricanes, fresh off a state championship last season.

“We’re [going to] go do our best, and we’re gonna work hard,” Ferro said. “… I know we’re [going to] go out and do the best we can.”

Boys Tennis

PVCICS 5, Seekonk 0 — The Dragons dominated their Division 4 Round of 32 matchup with Lee Ferguson, Derek Ye and Devan Ye all winning their singles matchups 6-0, 6-0.

Simon Speek and Jack Herman won 6-0, 6-1 at first doubles, while James Ferrer and Alexander Rachele took the win on the second doubles court 6-2, 6-1.

Wayland 5, Amherst 0 — The second-seeded Warriors had too much talent for the No. 31 Hurricanes to overcome in the Division Round of 32.

Amherst closed out the year 4-11.

Baseball

Lowell Catholic 13, South Hadley 1 — The Tigers avoided the shutout, but dropped their Division 4 preliminary matchup in five innings.

South Hadley’s final record finished at 10-11.

Millis 3, Gateway 2 — The Gators dropped their Division 5 preliminary round matchup on the road.

Gateway’s final record comes in at 13-2.