QUINCY — Throughout the spring, Norwell’s boys lacrosse program has had a bold target on its proverbial back. To most, the Clippers were the consensus team to beat in the Div. 3 field. Understandable, given that they were fresh off a state crown in 2022.
Despite plenty of obstacles, they now find themselves in a familiar position – one win from the pinnacle.
Senior captain Austin Shea finished with a game-high six goals Wednesday night, as top-seeded Norwell advanced to the championship for a third straight campaign with a convincing 16-4 drubbing of No. 5 Medfield at Veterans Stadium.
“We knew this was going to be a good game,” said Norwell coach Josh Stolp. “This is a great team, we’ve seen them three years now in a row. Solid team, well-coached, very disciplined. So we knew we had to play our ‘A’ game. Luckily our guys came out and did a great job.”
This semifinal tilt was a rematch of last year’s Div. 3 state final, and the Clippers came in ready to defend their hardware. Shea registered a pair of goals in the first four minutes before Oliver Rice and Tim Ward each found the cage to provide Norwell (18-3) a 4-1 lead in the opening frame.
However, with 52.7 seconds to play in the first, a bolt of lightning flashed across the horizon. Shortly thereafter, the skies opened up with torrential downpours, and the game entered a delay which lasted well over an hour. For many teams, that could be considered a momentum killer.
“There was a sense of comfortability in there since we were up 4-1,” Shea said. “But we knew we had to come out, because we knew what they were doing in the locker room. We knew they were going to come out hard.”
That the Warriors did. Medfield (15-7) trimmed the deficit to 4-2 off senior captain Kevin Arthur’s second goal with 10:14 left in the half. Suddenly, it appeared the game could be on pace to become a thriller.
However, Norwell is one of the state’s top-scoring teams for a reason and it didn’t take long for the Warriors to find that out – 2:36, to be precise.
Syracuse commit John Mullen fired a shot home to make it 5-2 for Norwell with 5:58 left in the second quarter, and the Clippers were just heating up. Over the next three minutes, Norwell tacked on four more goals to jump ahead 9-2.
Shea would complete the hat trick with 21.2 seconds to play in the stanza, as the Clippers took a 10-2 lead into the break, and they would never relent in the second half.
In addition to Shea’s efforts, Norwell was led by rising freshman Jake McGuirk (two goals, four assists). Petrucelli, Rice, and Dylan McGuirk added a pair of goals apiece, while Mullen (goal, assist) won 21-of-24 faceoffs.
Norwell will now look to capture its second straight Div. 3 title this upcoming weekend when it takes on an upstart in seventh-seeded Falmouth.
“We don’t know much about them,” said Stolp. “But we know it’s a good, athletic team. We’ve just got to start going to work for the next couple of days.”