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Skippers 10 Norwell 6

Date last updated 10:54 am Jun 23rd, 2008

Cohasset 10 Norwell 6

            The boys’ lacrosse team earned the right to defend its Division III state championship with a hard fought victory over Norwell on Thursday night (June 5) at Alumni Field.  The key to this victory was the outstanding goaltending of senior co-captain Nate Porter who shut the door on the Clippers throughout the game.  Coach Stew Curran was effusive in his praise.  “Nate played the best game of his high school career tonight.  He positioned himself well in the goal,  made the big stops and then pushed the ball to a breaking middie which jump started our offense. Tonight’s game will get us ready for the challenge in front of us. Nate really stood on his head out there for his teammates and it was a big win for us.  We now have a rare opportunity to threepeat as state champions.  We will be ready!”  Porter finished the game with 19 saves.

            Mike Grimm got the Skippers on the board early.  After a split dodge left his defender behind, Grimm slipped on the wet turf coming around the cage, fell down but still buried the shot.  Grimm scored again less than a minute later, this time dodging from up top through the Norwell defense.  After a Norwell goal by Cody Cavicchi, Will Wise found Mark Flibotte with an inside pass to the high crease and Flibotte hit the back of the twine.  Cavicchi scored again on a nice cut through the middle.  Thomas Flibotte rifled a shot to the far bottom corner after a strong bull dodge.  Wise found Mark Flibotte again on a nice cut and feed to give the Skippers a 5-2 lead.  Porter then took over, making five stops in the span of a minute, some at point blank range to preserve the Cohasset lead.

            Norwell dominated the possession early in the second period with some good ball movement.  Ryan Tierney scored to bring the Clippers within two but Cohasset then went on a run.  Thomas Flibotte scored his second goal sneaking around the cage from behind with a beautiful shot to the low far corner.  Peter Ernst then stormed in alone for still another Skipper tally after picking up a ground ball on the face-off.  Dean Driscoll picked off an errant Norwell clearing pass, hit Grimm on the run with a nice feed and Grimm  assisted Wise who beat the Norwell goalie to the stick side for the goal.  Norwell was flagged for an illegal stick (a three minute locked in penalty).  Unfortunately, Cohasset could not take advantage as Grimm clanged two rockets off the pipes and Mark Flibotte hit the post as well.  However, the Skippers still led comfortably at the half 8-3.

            At the start of the third period, Cohasset extended its lead when Grimm found Chuck Czerkawski with a cross-field pass and Czerkawski sent a cannon into the upper corner with the man advantage.  After a Norwell score, the game got a little ugly at the end of the third period.  After a scramble in front and some extracurricular hits, Cohasset was flagged with a slashing penalty and two misconducts.  Norwell also received a misconduct but played with a two man advantage (5 on 3) for the next three minutes.  Another series of penalties against Cohasset gave the Clippers a man advantage (6 on 5) for an additional two minutes.  Although Norwell scored twice to keep the Cohasset fans on edge, Porter was sensational stopping shot after shop as the Clippers tried to get back into the game.  Dana Valentine also came up big on the defensive end keeping Cavicchi under wraps for the entire second half.  The Cohasset zone defense led by Jake Cuneo, Anderson Lynner, Vin Curran, Cliff Musto, and John Maher bent but did not break under the pressure.  Finally, Grimm stopped the Norwell momentum with less than three minutes on the clock with a nice roll dodge and quick release for a goal to give Cohasset its margin of victory.

            Mike Grimm led all scorers with 3 goals and 2 assists.  Will Wise had a goal and 2 assists.  The Flibotte brothers each had 2 goals.  Chuck Czerkawski won 12 of 16 face-offs to give Cohasset the all important extra possessions.  Cohasset will play Scituate for the state championship in a rematch of last year’s final.