Conard earned its sixth victory in West Hartford on Saturday morning, beating East Lyme 16-12.

By Paul Palmer

The growth and the learning continue into the season as the Conard Red Wolves boys lacrosse team inched closer to a bid in the state tournament with a 16-12 win over East Lyme on Saturday.

With only five seniors on the roster, coach Matt Cersosimo’s side continues to gel. “We’re starting to hit our groove from learning and leading,” said Cersosimo. “We are a young, young team that is learning every day and these kids are like sponges with the learning.”

Against the Vikings on Saturday, it was a pair of sophomores who led the way on offense with Ben Halpert scoring six times and Luke Shaffer adding four tallies and three assists to move Conard to 6-5 on the year. The combination of Shaffer and Halpert was clicking from the opening whistle and helped stake the home team to a quick 3-0 lead. After CJ Nelson opened the scoring at 9:49, it was Shaffer fighting off a pair of defenders behind the net and finding Nelson for his second of the game.

Halpert scored his first of three in the first half at 7:11 and in just over 90 seconds the Red Wolves led 3-0. It was just the first of several runs that both teams would manufacture in the back-and-forth matchup on a beautiful, sunny morning. “Momentum is great when you have it, but you have to have the ability to respond when you don’t,” said Cersosimo.

East Lyme (7-5), responded just under a minute after Halpert’s goal on a slick passing play that started in the defensive zone. Gavin White found Jack Campbell with a pass and then he found Sawyer Tighe to convert the Conard turnover and make it 3-1. The combination of Halpert and Shaffer teamed up to get the goal back for the Red Wolves when Shaffer raced to the  to pick up a ground ball, then found Halpert who fired home the goal, restoring the three-goal lead with 3:32 to go. “We’ve been together since youth lacrosse in West Hartford and always have clicked,” said Halpert of his on-field magic with Shaffer.

East Lyme would get one back before the end of the first, but it was the sophomore combo of Shaffer and Halpert doing it again. This time Shaffer raced to the sideline to recover a ground ball. He then fired off a pass to Halpert in the middle of the goal and he made a move before scoring again. Conard goalie Matt Russo had a solid stop on Campbell before the Vikings would cut the lead to 5-3.

Conard then scored a pair of goals in 8 seconds  when Liam Alver out-muscled a defender, cut the corner of the net, and found Nick Paolitto, and then it was the goal of the match when Shaffer scored shooting behind his head as he streaked past the cage to make it 7-3. “CJ [Nelson] got in down low and my angle was low so I just had to go that way,” said Shaffer of his shot. But the rest of the half would belong to East Lyme as the Vikings scored the next four goals, including  Tighe’s tying goal at the buzzer as the momentum swung once more.

Tied after the first 24 minutes, Halpert opened the second-half scoring at 9:43. Once again it was the Vikings responding with three straights to take a 10-8 lead after forcing Conard to call a timeout. Whatever was said to the Red Wolves in that timeout seemed to work as they came out and scored three times in 59 seconds to go from down one to up two goals. First they tied it and then 8 seconds later Halpert picked up a loose ball in front of the East Lyme cage and scored to restore the lead.

Russo once again kept his team in the game with a pair of big saves just minutes apart to hold the lead after three.

With the game up for grabs at 11-10, Shaffer got Conard moving in the right direction in the final period. Four minutes  in he worked past a defender, swung to the corner of the net, and fired high for the goal. He then picked up assists on the next two goals by Conard as they built a 14-10 lead with 6:53 to play. East Lyme would pick up a pair of goals, but Shaffer and Halpert would combine on the final two scores of the game and secure the 16-12 win for the Red Wolves.

Conard got a solid day’s work from Huy Dong in the faceoff circle. He took 9 of 13 in the first half, and controlled many of the second half draws to get the Red Wolves offense moving. “He is really starting to turn it on,” said Cersosimo of his senior. “He has been working really hard at his skill.”  

Conard still needs one win to qualify for the state tournament that begins on May 26. They play three of their final four games on the road before returning home for a season finale with Hall at McKee Stadium on Thursday, May 18, beginning at 6 p.m.

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