SCARBOROUGH — On a night when it took the offense more than a quarter to get started, the defense of the Scarborough boys’ lacrosse team dominated for 48 minutes.
The resurgent Red Storm didn’t give up a goal in the first half and didn’t allow any at even strength Friday against Kennebunk at Kippy Mitchell Sports Complex. The offense came alive in the second quarter and Scarborough cruised to a 12-2 win.
Finn Pedersen finished with five goals, while Tae Delaware added four.
“Our defense is coming together and playing incredibly well, probably at a level higher than they should be for a high school team,” said Red Storm Coach Zach Barrett. “Credit to our assistant coach, Ty Souder, for that. Our goalie (Josh Medeiros) played awesome and made some great saves, too.”
Scarborough (4-1) got some quality looks in the first quarter, but Kennebunk goalie Jacek Kudas stopped all six shots he faced and the result was a rarely-seen 0-0 tie after 12 minutes.
Pedersen scored unassisted after a nice move just 23 seconds into the second quarter as the Red Storm got their offense going. He added two more goals, one in transition from defenseman Alex Callahan and another from Delaware.
Delaware then scored, as Quinn Fogerty set him up in transition. A goal by Ben Cassellius (from Delaware) made it 5-o going into the break.
“We had to get our heads straight and focus on the main objective and that was just moving the ball around and working our offense, and if we do, we get goals,” Pedersen said.
The Rams (2-4) finally got on the board two minutes into the second half when Jacob Sullivan scored man-up. Delaware answered, and Owen Leadley (from Will St. Germain), Pedersen (man-up) and Jeremiah Park added goals to give Scarborough a 9-1 lead after three quarters.
In the fourth quarter, Sullivan scored for a second time, again man-up, but that was it for Kennebunk’s offense. Delaware scored two more goals and Pedersen got his fifth.
“Losing to Falmouth (in overtime, Tuesday) really fueled us,” said Callahan, a captain. “We’ll build off of it.”
Callahan credited defensive teammates Will Arpin, Mason Hartlein, Sam Rumelhart, James Day and Andy Lancaster for helping frustrate the Rams.
“We played unbelievable on-ball and off-ball defense. Josh was great in goal. We live to play great defense.”
Medeiros stopped a dozen shots for the Red Storm, while Kudas finished with 16 saves for Kennebunk.
Scarborough, which won just four games in 2019, has matched that total in five games this spring and is only getting stronger.
“We can still do a better job of keeping the ball moving and working on dodges and moving the ball around,” Pedersen said.
“We are clicking,” Barrett said. “But we’re struggling with playing at a top level for a whole game. Consistency is important. Confidence is still coming. We’re having some fun this year.”
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