Portsmouth Boys Lacrosse Unshaken by Rain and Lightning, Set for Div. II Title Match Against East Greenwich

PROVIDENCE — Crowded into a hallway under the stands, sidelined by a lightning delay, the Portsmouth boys lacrosse team put some music on and had an impromptu dance party.

Then the Patriots danced in the rain.

Unfazed by the weather and by top-seeded East Greenwich, the No. 3 Patriots captured the Division II championship with a 15-6 victory at Brown University’s Stevenson-Pincince Field on June 7. It was quite the unusual — and memorable — path to the first boys lacrosse championship in school history.

“That was crazy,” Portsmouth head coach Charlie Willauer said. “It’s hard to keep momentum in a situation like that. We told the guys, ‘Don’t get cold. Keep this momentum going.’ And they went out and did it.”

Portsmouth controlled the game from the beginning but couldn’t control the weather. With 11:34 left in the fourth quarter, nearby lightning forced the game into a delay. Spectators were sent to their cars and the teams to the enclosed area underneath the stands.

It was unfamiliar territory.

“Never, ever in all my years of lacrosse,” sophomore Chase Pascoe said of the situation. “Usually we just play through the rain.”

The Patriots were riding high at the time, leading 10-4, and they kept the mood light. A couple of players joked about going to look for snacks. Some wanted to challenge East Greenwich to a dance-off. They eventually turned a speaker on and danced themselves.

Through it all, they stayed ready.

“We knew coming into the locker room, we weren’t going to let them take this away from us,” sophomore Chase Pascoe said. “We made it our mission to make sure we won that.”

The team returned to the field after the lightning delay just as heavy rain began. East Greenwich scored the first goal off the restart but the Patriots stormed to the finish with five goals in the last eight minutes of the game.

There was a brief round of pushing and shoving between the players in the final minutes, but tempers cooled quickly. As the downpour continued, another flash of lightning filled the sky. With the lopsided score, officials called the game with 1:02 remaining. The Patriots raced onto the field, splashing into a celebration. They received their trophy and medals in the same hallway where they rode out the lightning delay.

“We didn’t want to waste our chance,” Pascoe said. “We have quite a few seniors. We knew, ‘If we’re going to win this, this is the year.’ And we just went all out.”

Before the weather drama, Portsmouth had owned the game’s first 16 minutes, controlling the ball with face-off wins, long possessions and some timely saves. Teddy Gersen, Shane Temple, Oliver Melanson and Robert Mairs scored goals as the Patriots jumped to a 4-0 lead.

“That was huge,” Pascoe said. “Even though we kind of let up, getting that lead at the start is so big. It carries through the whole game.”

East Greenwich roared back with four straight goals in the second period, but Portsmouth stole some momentum back on a goal by Pascoe with 25 seconds left before halftime.

The third quarter was all Patriots. Pascoe scored three straight goals out of the break, and tallies by Rafferty Dionne and Mairs made it 10-4 just before the lightning delay.

Pascoe lit up the scoreboard with five goals and Gersen scored four. Mairs had two goals and four assists, tallying his 100th career point along the way. Melanson finished with two goals and one assist. Temple had a goal and four assists, Dionne had a goal and three assists, and Brady Williams notched an assist. Jack Colna was fantastic in net with 19 saves. Johnny Cabral shined on faceoffs.

Ben Butterfield led East Greenwich with two goals and one assist. Brady Parks, Cooper Lake, Micah Dawson and Oliver Jackson scored one goal each.

While the weather was an unexpected twist, the performance was exactly what the Patriots drew up. East Greenwich may have been the top seed, but the Patriots beat them twice in the regular season.

“We knew we were better,” Pascoe said. “We saw the stuff on social media about how they were ranked No. 1, and we just used it for motivation.”

The finalists were in the same situation this season, having moved down to D-II after stints in the state’s top division. Improvement paired with the change in competition level set the stage for big success. East Greenwich went 12-3 in the regular season and Portsmouth finished 11-4.

Six years ago, Portsmouth was in the same spot. The Patriots dropped to D-II and went undefeated in the regular season, but lost in the championship round.

That didn’t happen this time.

“Moving from D-I to D-II, we told the guys on the first day of practice, ‘This is our opportunity to win a championship,’ ” Willauer said. “That’s what we say every practice: ‘Ground balls and let’s win this championship.’ We said we were going to do it. This a special group of guys and they were able to execute.”

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Portsmouth boys lacrosse unfazed by rain, lightning, East Greenwich in Div. II title match