The Beacons faced off against the Massachusetts Maritime Academy Buccaneers in a weekend home game Saturday, April 5 and won 16-7. The Buccaneers and Beacons have a history of close games and ties, so this nine-point win was a statement for the Beacons moving forward in the season.
Junior Matt Hutchings opened the scoreboard by netting a goal for the Beacons just three minutes into the game. The Buccaneers were quick to retaliate as they evened the score to 1-1 within minutes. Soon after that graduate player Sean Daly gave the Beacons the upper hand with a 2-1 lead. Hutchings completed one of his hat tricks in the first quarter, followed by freshman Jack Schartner. Schartner has been a score machine for the Beacons ever since he has taken the field. He netted seven goals in this game single-handedly. The Beacons ended the first quarter with a 5-2 lead.
The Beacons seemed to have found the balance between defense and offense. Sophomore star goalkeeper James Boldy was working full time at the net. He is currently the premier goalkeeper in his league and the Little East Conference agrees: they named him goalie of the week once again.
Boldy said, “It feels great. It’s nice to have a great defense in front of me. Those guys put it all on the line every day … every time we can get a stop on defense is huge.”
The Buccaneers’ goalie, though less celebrated, still posed a problem to the Beacons’ defense. The third quarter started hot, with Schartner and a Buccaneer both scoring for their respective teams. Schartner then completed his own hat trick and paved the way for other Beacons to start scoring, which was refreshing after a second quarter with almost no goals from either team. Senior Timothy Sullivan netted his own goal, followed by Schartner and Dale Wills. The Beacons sealed the third quarter with a 12-3 lead.
Sullivan opened the fourth quarter in just 21 seconds, netting his second goal of the game, followed by senior Shane McGonagle just 17 seconds later. Wills brought the team up to a 15-3 lead. The Buccaneers got two goals in before Schartner closed the match at 16-7.
Duncan Youngclaus, who led in assists, said, “It was good. Last year they [the Buccaneers] held it tight, but this year our defense played very well … Our defense is just getting turnovers, and our offense helped us get the upper hand.”
The Buccaneers gave up a lot of man-up opportunities throughout the game, including the two penalties they committed in a matter of just seven minutes. Their defense really anchored them down.
The Beacons have weathered this season well, with nine wins and only two losses. They still have a few games lined up, including a home game Wednesday, April 16 against the Southern Maine Huskies.
