GLOUCESTER— In pre-game preparation, coaches stress the importance of jumping out to an early lead.
Junior Austin Titus heard the message loud and clear while teammate Robert Deckert threw the knockout blows in a 7-3 victory over Saugus at Newell Stadium Friday afternoon.
Even though they rifled off 36 shots in the contest and controlled the flow of the game, coach Drew Dominick thought there was room for improvement for the now 2-5 Fishermen.
"It was good to get our second win of the season, but execution still wasn't up to my standards" Dominick said. "I told them that at half-time and we still didn't play better in the second-half. We need to execute better on our man-up opportunities as well as our set offensive plays."
The first quarter was the Austin Titus show, as the junior was fast and furious in the frame. Titus and teammate Winslow Lewis gave Gloucester a quick 2-0 in the game's first two minutes. CJ Randolph put Saugus on the board around the five-finute mark, but Titus made sure the Sachems weren't going to get any closer.
The junior midfielder scored his second goal of the frame with 3:56 remaining, however, he still wasn't done. With 39 seconds remaining the quarter, Titus rifled a shot that buried the back of the net to complete the first-quarter hat-trick and give his team 4-1 advantage. After Titus finished his barrage of goals in the first, he handed off the scoring duties to Robert Deckert.
Deckert scored a goal in each of the remaining periods to complete a hat-trick of his own. He scored with 11 seconds remaining in the second quarter and then again with 6:16 remaining in the third. A Saugus goal with one-minute remaining in the third ended a 5-0 run from the Fishermen, four of which came at the hands of Titus and Deckert.
Goalie Sean Kennedy was instrumental in keeping the Gloucester lead sizeable, as he made six saves on the few scoring chances the Sachems had.
Despite the feeling that the offense needs to execute better, Dominick was pleased with the play of his defense.
"Im real proud of Sean Kennedy, Coltyn Rivas, Mike Falzarano and my starting defense" he said. "We've been holding teams all year and if you can hold a lacrosse team to under seven goals you're in good shape and they've been doing that."
Moving forward, Dominick is only focusing on the first-quarter of his next game against Marblehead and praised his team for the improvements they have shown since the season began.
"I'm not looking any further except the first-quarter of Marblehead next Monday" he said. "Obviously our record doesn't show it, but we're going to come ready to play and give them as much as we can, I hope. We're going to work on getting better and even though we don't have the scores to show it, we have been getting better every game so I can't really complain."
