With his team down, 2-1, entering the final quarter of play at Pembroke Academy on Thursday, April 17, Pelham boys lacrosse coach Matt Regan said it suddenly clicked.

“I watched (Pembroke’s) goalie play last week, and he made every ground save and gave up 15 goals, all of them were high,” said Regan. “That was the game plan coming in, shoot high, shoot high, shoot high … We shot low, shot low, shot low.”

That was true until the fourth quarter, when, with 7:36 remaining in the contest, junior attacker Michael Woonton found a hole, waist-high on the opposing goal ie, and tied the game. Then, less than a minute later, he scored again.

“Unfortunately,” said Regan, “we’re not over that hump of knowing how to win games.”

With 36 seconds left on the game clock, the Pythons suffered an unforced turnover. A couple passes later, the Spartans planted the ball firmly in the back of the net.

Then, with seven seconds remaining in regulation, they did it again. Regan kneeled on the sideline, his mouth wide open in disbelief.

“We had plenty of opportunities – more than our fair share. We just didn’t execute the game plan,” he said. “This one is going to take a long time to soak in.

“Tomorrow’s practice won’t be easy,” he continued. “I’m going to make it as hard as possible to show them that losing is unacceptable. I don’t know any other way to do it.”

Still, Regan said the Pythons were without two of their top players, defenseman Dan Trainor and long pole midfielder Chris Gagne.

In their stead, Billy Sullivan, Justin Mansfield and C.J. Ziogas stepped up to keep the contest close.