SPORTS

State Champions

After just missing in 2021, Pilgrim lax wins DIII title

Posted 6/8/22

By RYAN D. MURRAY

The Patriots finished their perfect season with a 12-5 win over the Narragansett Mariners in the Boys Division III Lacrosse Championship Game at Cranston Stadium on …

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SPORTS

State Champions

After just missing in 2021, Pilgrim lax wins DIII title

Posted

By RYAN D. MURRAY

The Patriots finished their perfect season with a 12-5 win over the Narragansett Mariners in the Boys Division III Lacrosse Championship Game at Cranston Stadium on Saturday.

Pats sophomore Braxton Bragg topped all scorers with five goals.

Pilgrim midfielder Ryan Barlow, a sophomore, and defenseman Griffin Taylor, a junior, scored two goals apiece, while junior attacker Ethan Pezzullo also had two goals, plus an assist.

Charlie Clements, a junior, concluded the Pats scoring with a goal and an assist.

Jacob Brennan, Pilgrim’s junior goalkeeper, made 11 saves on the day.

“This was a team win,” Pilgrim head coach Alexander Gregson said. “I know Braxton is going to show up on the stat sheet as the number one goal-scorer, but we had to fight this whole game.”

“Coach (Mark) Chafee had us figured out,” Gregson said. “It’s definitely by far the most thorough game planning we’ve had against us this year. He knew who to lock down, he knew when to press, he knew when to go easy, and we had a tough time figuring it out.”

Gansett juniors Dante Iannelli and Colin Patrick registered two goals apiece, while Will Perotti added one goal.

Pilgrim owned a 3-0 advantage after the opening quarter, and a 4-1 lead at halftime.

Narragansett got as close as 5-3 with 6:45 left in the third period, but then the Pats scored two goals in a row and took a 7-3 edge. Pilgrim held an 8-5 buffer heading into the fourth frame.

“It was a close game,” Gregson said. “It was only a three-goal game going into the fourth quarter. Then, we finally just decided to start putting pressure on offense, and then we kind of ran away with it, but it wasn’t until the end that we really figured it out. And kudos to them. They really game planned. They obviously scouted us heavily and they were able to put something together that we hadn’t seen before.”

Last year, Pilgrim was the No. 2 seed and upset by No. 4 Burrillville in the championship game by a final score of 8-7. So, winning the big one this season made it all that much sweeter.

“Oh yeah,” Pezzullo said. “This year was our revenge tour and I think going 16-0 proved we were here to win.” 

“It feels amazing,” Gregson said. “This is the third time we’ve gotten the program here and the first time we’ve taken it, so it feels a lot better than losing, I’ll tell you that right now.”

Pilgrim, lacrosse LAX

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