BRUNSWICK — David Fiorini was happy to play in the rain Tuesday afternoon.
South Portland’s Cullen Adams tries to drive past Brunswick’s Chandler Coombs in boys lacrosse Tuesday at rainy Brunswick. The visiting Red Riots picked up a 21-8 victory (Shawn Patrick Ouellette / Portland Press Herald)
So happy in fact, that he went out and produced the game of his life.
Fiorini, a University of Massachusetts-Lowell commit, scored nine goals, six in the second quarter, to lead South Portland to a surprisingly decisive and Heal points-rich 21-8 boys’ lacrosse victory at defending State Class B champion Brunswick.
Despite a steady downpour, Fiorini and his teammates clicked from the start, never trailed and gradually pulled away as the Red Riots improved to 7-3.
“It was a lot of fun,” said Fiorini, who also had a pair of assists. “I love playing lacrosse like this. It gets a little muddy and everyone slips around. We just had to work hard.”
Fiorini set the tone with a goal just over a minute in and Cooper Mehlhorn and Alex Stevens scored as well before the Dragons answered on goals from Finn Mitchell and Nolan Lyne to cut South Portland’s lead to 3-2 after one quarter.
The Red Riots then pulled away in the second period as Fiorini scored six of his team’s nine goals, including one just before the horn when he caught a desperation heave from goalie Quinn Watson and scored for a 12-6 advantage.
“It’s safe to say that David had a good day,” said South Portland coach Tom Fiorini, David Fiorini’s father. “His knee was bothering him, but he’s back healthy now and showed what he can do.”
The Red Riots never let Brunswick make a run, as Stevens, Fiorini and faceoff standout Josh Doan added goals early in the second half to stretch the lead to nine.
South Portland took a 16-8 lead to the fourth quarter, then closed the game on a 5-0 run.
“We worked well as a team together, especially in the second half,” said Doan, who won 26 of 31 faceoffs. “This was a really good team win. I think we showed everybody how good we can be.”
South Portland’s Joshua Doan tries to get past Nate Curtis of Brunswick. (Shawn Patrick Ouellette / Portland Press Herald)
In addition to Fiorini’s nine goals, Stevens added five, Mehlhorn, Logan Doucette and Nick Tolan all had two and Doan one. Watson made nine saves.
“Brunswick’s always a great team,” Tom Fiorini said. “They have great players and Don (Glover’s) a great coach. We just had a better day today.”
The Dragons (8-3) got two goals from Belanger, Mitchell and Nate Girardin, one apiece from Lyne and Chandler Coombs and 16 saves from goalie Connor Pendergast.
“(South Portland’s) a really good team,” Glover said. “We knew we’d have our hands full coming in.
“They were gritty and they wanted it. The key stat was ground balls. It came down to sloppy play all over the field. Whoever got the ground balls would have opportunities. We always preach to the kids when you play in conditions like this, the advantage goes to the offensive players.”
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