By Michael Letendre
The Bristol lacrosse coop program defeated Middletown on Monday night, zipping up a 15-2 romp on the road to complete regular season play.
Bristol’s Brady Bell rocked the Blue Dragons for a hat trick while also adding an assist.
Ryan Spina, RJ Fellows, Ian Reardon, and Chase Dauphinee added two goals apiece to augment the winning effort.
The goalie duo of Max Stavens and Nick Martino each snared four assists with the Bristol substitutes playing most of the second half against overwhelmed Middletown.
That effort ended an excellent regular season, leading to a couple postseason chances in tournament play to end the scholastic year.
CCCs on deck
On Tuesday, the Bristol lacrosse coop team gets its shot at the Southern Division championship at the Central Connecticut Conference Tournament.
The Bristol program has been excellent this season, going 14-2 overall, winners of nine straight matches since dropping an 18-0 decision to Wethersfield on April 24.
Bristol is on quite a roll since that setback against the Eagles, but the program also fell to Lewis Mills on April 17, dropping the match by a single goal (9-8) from Alumni Field on the campus of BEHS.
And that’s the opponent Bristol drew, battling against the Spartans on Tuesday afternoon in Burlington in CCC semifinal action.
Both Mills and Bristol carry just two losses, falling to Wethersfield (14-10) and Northwest Catholic (21-8) back on May 9.
And that means Bell, Dauphinee, Reardon, Fellows, Spina, Dylan Brown, Stavens and company are all looking to pull off the upset on the road.
Don’t forget, the crew from the Mum City has yet to taste defeat during the month of May.
If Bristol can get by Lewis Mills, the squad will play the winner of Tolland/Wethersfield on Thursday for the Southern title.
Last season, the Bristol program was in the CCC mix, taking its shot against Tolland in tournament play.
The Eagles zipped up a 17-3 win over Bristol while Tolland was smashed by Wethersfield over a 14-4 romp in the title tilt.
Here’s the complete tournament bracket:
2023 Boys Lacrosse CCC Tournament
Divisional Semifinals – Tuesday, May 23
Northern Division:
*Berlin at Northwest Catholic
*Newington at Farmington
Southern Division:
*Tolland at Wethersfield
*Bristol coop (14-2) at Lewis Mills (12-2)
Central Division:
Avon at Glastonbury (4:30)
Southington at Simsbury
Finals (May 25)
The divisional Finals commence from the higher seed (the Central Division winner will play its final match from Conard High School in West Hartford) on Thursday.
