The Cranston West boys lacrosse team fell in its season opener 18-6 to defending champion Pilgrim on Monday evening.

The Pats, who went undefeated last season en route to the championship, picked up right where they left off and jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead in the first quarter and never looked back as the Falcons struggled to keep pace. Pilgrim was led by Ryan Barlow, who scored six goals for the Pats. Tyler Fuller added five goals while Ethan Pezzullo scored three and Braxton Bragg two. Liam Holmes and Richard Cabral added goals each in the win, while Bragg picked up a pair of assists as well.

Charlie Maguire led the Falcons with a hat trick followed by Jayden Bogle with two and Jack Majcher one. Paul DeBalsi recorded two assists for West as well.

“It’s a huge confidence boost for us because we had a few scrimmages and took some tough losses. Now that we’ve got a win under our belt, hopefully we can get some momentum going,” said Barlow, who felt that communication and execution on offense was the difference in the win. “We just moved the ball well, cut well, and ran what we preach in practice. It worked well for us and we picked apart their defense pretty good.”

Last year was a historic campaign for Pilgrim, who went unbeaten and virtually untested on its way to the Division III title. The Pats return much of the same core and have championship aspirations once again, but will be tasked with beating some new clubs in the realignment.

“I’m extremely confident. We’ve still got a lot of work to do and we’re pretty rusty since the season just started, but I think once the gears start to get turning, we have a great shot at the championship again this year,” said Barlow. “It’s definitely going to be more difficult. We knew these guys pretty well, but teams like Prout, Chariho, those top teams, we’re going to have to dig deep to get those wins.”

Pilgrim improved to 1-0 with the win and will next take on Middletown on Thursday. Cranston West fell to 0-1 with the loss and faced South Kingstown in a non-league meeting on Wednesday, but the results were not available at press time.

Barlow has also been impressed with some of the younger Patriots, especially those filling in on faceoff duties.

“A lot of guys have stepped up, we have two new faceoff guys and that’s the most important position in the game. They’ve played well and hopefully they can keep that going,” Barlow said.