By Mike Kelly
(April 21, 2023) — The two-time defending Shoreline Conference Champion Haddam-Killingworth Cougars Boys Varsity Lacrosse team notched a statement win on April 20, 2023, defeating the Old Saybrook Rams decisively, 15-6. With the win, the Cougars moved to 5-1 on the season and established themselves as the team to beat in Conference.
HK got the scoring started early when Senior Co-Captain Nolan Braren found fellow Senior Co-Captain Alex Phipps in front of the crease, 1-0 HK. It would be the first of many goals for Phipps on this night. A few minutes later, Freshman Finn O’Hanlon got free above the left post, 2-0 HK. Old Saybrook responded to close within one, but that is as close as they would get.
On the next possession Phipps, rolling left to right above the cage, fired one into the top left corner, 3-1 HK. Then Freshman Spencer Savoy found Phipps again, this time above the top left post, 4-1 HK. With a man-up advantage and 28 ticks left on the clock in the first quarter, Savoy joined the scoring action, ripping one from above the left post, 5-1 HK.
In the second quarter the Rams were charged with an illegal stick penalty, leaving them a man down for two minutes. HK quickly took advantage. First it was Phipps going to work, face dodging his defender from X to punch it in, 6-1 HK. Braren then followed, with an assist from Phipps, firing his patented low-to-low sidearm from 15 yards and right of the crease, 7-1 HK.
Of note, the zebras left a lot of laundry on the field this particular evening, especially in the second half—and often not in favor of the visiting Cougars. With nine minutes left in the second, HK was flagged with three concurrent penalties, putting three players in the box, and giving the host Rams a three-man advantage from which they were able to capitalize with two scores, 7-3 HK. Then, at the 5:45, mark the Cougars again found themselves a man down, but this time the defense turned back the Old Saybrook attack. To end the half, Savoy fired a rope from X to a cutting Phipps just above the right crease, 8-3 HK.
To begin the third, the visiting Cougars picked up where they left off. This time it was Braren dodging from practically the midline, slipping two defenders on his way to the cage and the overhand finish, 9-3 HK. Phipps then assisted Braren for another, this time dead center above the crease for the patented sidearm, 10-3 HK.
At the ten-minute mark and with a man-up advantage, Phipps rolled from goal-line-extended to bang home another winner, 11-3 HK. At around the nine-minute mark, the Cougar defense faced another man-down disadvantage, but again they turned back the Rams attack. HK took advantage moments later when O’Hanlon burned the nets from 10 yards above the right crease, 12-3 HK.
Old Saybrook answered with a quick-strike, fast-break score, 12-4 HK. The Cougars defense then faced another man-down situation at the 4:41 mark, and again they held. And they would do so two more times on the night, at the 8:39 and 7:06 marks in the fourth, a truly impressive defensive display.
Perhaps frustrated by all the man-down disadvantages, a determined Phipps picked up a loose ball with 25 seconds left in the third quarter and took it coast-to-coast for the score, 13-4 HK.
Old Saybrook attempted to crawl back into the game early in the fourth, scoring two quickies within a span of several minutes, 13-6 HK. But it was the Cougars defense that was the story on this night, bending but refusing to break despite the many advantages given their opponent. Junior goalie Braden Civiello made some ridiculous stops in cage, while his supporting cast of characters—d-poles Junior Charlie Maxwell, Senior Aiden Griswold and Senior Nathan Kelly, as well as d-middies Junior Cooper Pitts and Senior Tyler Perry, as well as LSMs Senior Jack Insalaco and Sophomore Jake Mackenzie—all did their part, moving in unison like the well-oiled machine they are.
With five minutes left in the game Sophomore Gunnar Howes got in on the scoring action, rolling and firing an overhand hammer above the right post, 14-6 HK.
And to close it in style, Braren found a cutting Phipps on the doorstep for the behind-the-back one-timer, his eighth goal on the night, 15-6 HK. With the BTB goal Phipps bested the personal record of his sibling Cory Phipps, who graduated last year, for the most goals scored in a single game. Branford is next.
Photos by Liz Griswold
