The Pilgrim boys lacrosse team wrapped up its regular season with an 8-7 win over Cranston West, securing the top seed in Division II heading into the playoffs while also extending its win streak to six games.
Braxton Bragg led Pilgrim with four goals while Brett Taylor added two. Ryan Barlow and Ricky Cabral also found the back of the net to edge the visiting Falcons.
Pilgrim had an up and down April, dealing with injuries and some growing pains after graduating nearly its entire defense from last year’s club. Now, healthy and in rhythm, Pilgrim coach Alex Gregson feels the team is peaking at the right time as the playoffs are right around the corner.
“We have gotten better defensively. We lost a lot of guys on defense from last year and it took some time for our new guys to adjust. If you look at our goals against the past six games, they’re way down from what they were,” said Gregson.
The team was also looking for offensive production behind Bragg and Barlow. Although the senior duo is among the best in the state, Pilgrim needed newcomers to step up, and a handful has done just that.
“We’re still developing that (secondary scoring), but Brett Taylor has been our third scorer and has really been finding his spots. Ricky Cabral has been another one and you have to tip your cap to him because this is only his second year playing the sport. He’s got a ton of skill. We also moved Marcus Walsh from defense to offense and he’s been stepping up,” Gregson said.
Chris Schifino has also settled into his position as the team’s goalie after transferring from Toll Gate.
“We used to play against Chris when he was at Toll Gate and we knew he was a competent goaltender. This year he has done a good job of controlling the defense, knowing where they have to go. Here, he really had to be the leader on defense and take control and he’s grown into that role. He understands his voice, his performance, his body language, his emotion will really dictate how the defense plays,” said Gregson.
Although Pilgrim is the top seed, it will be anyone’s championship to take in the crowded DII field. Prout and Cumberland handed Pilgrim losses while West nearly got the job done in the finale.
Sticking to their game and being disciplined will lead the Pats to success and back to the title game, according to Gregson.
“This is par for the course for DII. There is a lot of talent at the top and even in the middle. We have some losses and some close wins and so have the rest of them. I’ve told the guys, though, that our three losses were by four points combined. The only one that will beat us is ourselves and they know that,” Gregson said. “If we play together the way we can play, we don’t go off on our own, we will make a deep run.”