Luke Shaffer ties the all-time goals mark for Conard during a Saturday afternoon game in West Hartford.

Sports reporting is sponsored by Keating Agency Insurance

By Paul Palmer

In what could be a preview of the Class L boys lacrosse final, Cheshire outlasted Conard 8-5 in a thrilling matchup Saturday in West Hartford. In the loss, Red Wolves senior Luke Shaffer scored his 146th goal to move into a tie for the all-time mark for the school.

In net Brayden Mangini was magnificent making 21 saves to keep Conard in the game. “He was so composed and did everything  he could for us to win the game,” said head coach Matt Cersosimo.

Cheshire, the defending Class L champions, struck first, scoring two and a half minutes in when Grant Paul’s low shot beat Mangini. The Red Wolves would answer when Torin McGoldrick picked up the loose ball on defense and ran the transition into the attack. He found Brady Cersosimo in front of the cage and the junior attack man made no mistake to tie things at 1.

The next four minutes belonged to the Rams’ offense and Mangini. Maintaining control for long stretches Cheshire was patient with their shots, but when they took them Mangini was ready. He had several good saves, and controlled the rebounds to settle things down. At 3:01, Brady Potyrala snapped the tie when he broke off his defender and scored going high into the corner.

Conard struggled all day in the face-off circle as Cheshire won 11 of 16 on the day and used them to set up their offense. To open the second quarter, they controlled the ball and 2:30 in it was Potyrala scoring again, this time cutting in from the left and finding space to release the shot for a goal.

“We struggled on face-offs, though (Brett) Gainey battled in there all game,” Cersosimo said of his freshman face-off man. On the play, the other thing that did not help the Wolves on the day showed up as well – penalties. Conard would be flagged seven times on the day compared to one for the Rams.

“We had a couple of aggressive penalties during play and we have to clean that up,” the coach said. Potyrala picked up his second goal of the game on the man advantage when he made it 4-1 at 7:56.

The Wolves then went on a scoring run of their own, with Shaffer getting career marker 146 to tie the school’s all-time goal mark with just under five minutes to go. As the clock ran down, Conard had possession and took a timeout with :17 to go in the second. Whatever play was called it worked – as Brady Cersosimo scored on a Shaffer assist with just :04 to go, and Conard cut the Cheshire lead to 4-3 entering halftime.

The opening minutes of the third quarter were tight with Mangini and Cheshire goalie Joe Grenier both coming out with some fine saves. Greiner was especially sharp, denying Liam Alver from in close. But the Conard attack would get his revenge when he took a pass from Shaffer at the end of a long Wolves’ possession and found the back of the net to tie things at 4 at 6:37.

The lead did not last long though, as William Wable finally converted on a bounce shot from an angle that beat Mangini just :42 after Alver’s goal. Conard found itself playing a man down three times in the period, but managed to hold the line on defense. “Our D was awesome all game long,” said Cersosimo.

It was still anyone’s game when the fourth quarter opened with Conard trailing by a single goal. Cheshire upped their 5-4 lead just under two minutes in when Nicholas Miller found the back of the net when his bounce went high into the corner. Conard was also flagged for a penalty on the play, giving the Rams possession of the ball again.

Both sides managed to keep up a high tempo despite the staggering heat and humidity – made even worse by playing on a turf field.

Conard would cut the lead back to a single goal with 4:15 to go when Ben Walsh ripped a 15-yard shot past Grenier to make it 6-5 Rams. Cheshire answered 34 seconds later to take back the momentum, and it was Wable shedding his defender to make it a 7-5 lead.

Conard had a great chance to make it a one-goal game when Shaffer found Walsh cutting down the middle and fed him the ball. Grenier, though, was there to deny on the high shot. Cheshire would get the game’s final goal when a Conard defenseman overplayed Grant Paul down low. He slipped under the defender at the side of the goal and fired in the shot.

Shaffer had one final chance to become the all-time goal leader, but his shot with :37 to go hit the handle of Grenier’s stick and deflected wide.

“We made some second half mistakes in the midfield,” said Cersosimo after the game. “If we had more possession it could have been a different game. But that is a really good team over there and we showed we belong.”

The loss is just the second of the year for Conard to go along with seven wins. The losses both came at the hands of defending state champs – a 13-11 loss to Class M champion Hand, and Saturday’s loss to Class L champion Cheshire. This was also the first game all season that Conard did not score in double digits, having averaged just over 14 goals per game heading into Saturday. They also averaged just five goals against during the win streak.

Next up for Conard is a stretch of away games, including at Wethersfield on Tuesday and Simsbury on Thursday.

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