On a blustery, late-April afternoon, in the mix of white boys’ lacrosse jerseys an encouraging voice cried out to the players on the field: “Only need six more, white.”
The white shirts in need of six goals, Concord, had cut into Pinkerton’s commanding halftime lead but never got all the way back as the Crimson Tide lost, 14-8, on Friday at Memorial Field.
While the first half was a tough 24 minutes – the Astros held a 10-3 halftime lead – the Tide began to find some footing against Pinkerton in the late minutes of the third quarter. On a clear from goalie Colby Bettens, midfielder Jonathan McDonald charged up the field and cradled the ball before passing it to Joey Tarbell, who sent it back to McDonald for the score.
Moments later, courtesy of an Astros penalty, the Tide picked up another goal to cut into Pinkerton’s lead with four minutes to go in the third quarter.
Concord’s second-half effort, especially the final goals by Tarbell and Parker Savoy, while admirable, can be looked at as a measuring stick against one of the state’s premier programs. Pinkerton has appeared in seven of the last nine state finals, and as Tide coach Jeff Smith said following the game, the devil is in the details to beat a program like Pinkerton.
“The hallmark of a good team is one that doesn’t break mentally,” he said. “As long as we’re learning and giving effort, we’re going to be happy.
“We have a lot of new guys in new roles, and we’re teaching a lot of guys how to step into (those) roles in the middle of games.”
Concord (3-4, 2-4 NHIAA games) has seen the difficulties of having to learn the game while going through a regular season, and its schedule certainly hasn’t done the Tide favors, as perennial powers Exeter, Bishop Guertin and Pinkerton have already appeared on the schedule.
But there’s a unique bonus to playing against the top competition in the early portions of the season. It can allow for certain things to take place in the back half of the schedule and into playoffs that are a month away.
“The hope is when you get to t hose games, other teams take you lightly,” Smith said. “You can start to put some pressure on those tougher teams.”
As for the day-to-day grind, the players know that there’s still work to do, but the maturation process is taking place.
“I think every game there’s two or three quarters where we’re playing our best lacrosse, but then one or two quarters it falls apart,” Tarbell said.
“We should put all the pieces together and have a successful second half of the season,” said senior attack and midfielder Danny O’Brien.
Once those pieces are in place, the Tide could be a dangerous team. And those cries out for six more won’t be to catch up but to keep adding on.