Nantucket Boys Lacrosse Loses Heartbreaker In State Championship

The Whaler boys lacrosse team’s season came to a heartbreaking end Saturday afternoon following a 7-6 loss to the Cohasset Skippers in the MIAA Division 4 State Championship game.

After falling into a 5-1 hole with 7:41 to go in the first half, the Whalers staged an incredible comeback and showed impressive resolve to tie the championship matchup 5-5 with nine seconds left in the third quarter. After falling into a 6-5 hole late in the fourth, Noah Stringer scored the equalizer with 39 seconds to go for the Whalers before the Skippers scored the dagger and eventual game-winning goal with 23 seconds left in the game.

Whaler head coach Sam Aloisi said after the game that his team had way too many mistakes and unforced errors on their end which ultimately cost them.

The game began with both the Whalers and the Skippers struggling to find their game. Both sides had some uncharacteristic turnovers, in particularly Nantucket, which led to no goals being scored in the first six minutes of the title matchup.

Cohasset scored the game’s first goal with 5:45 to go in the first quarter, and that appeared to wake up their offense as they scored two more goals in the next couple of minutes to make it 3-0 with 3:53 to go in the first quarter.

The Whalers have shown all spring that they’re a hard team to knock off and more than capable of coming back from multi-goal deficits – including an early 2-0 hole against Manchester Essex in the state semifinal. They began their comeback bid with Stringer, off a nice set up from Andrick Mooney, making it 3-1 with 3:19 to go in the first. That score stood heading into the second quarter.

Cohasset made it 4-1 just 38 seconds into the second quarter and plunged the Whalers into a 5-1 hole with another strike four minutes later with 7:41 to go in the first half. But Nantucket continued to claw their way back into the game and wouldn’t go away. Senior Arann Hanlon beat his man one-on-one from behind the net to put his first goal of the game past Skippers’ sophomore goalie Jed Seita short side to make it 5-2 and then senior attacker Nolen Mosscrop made it 5-3 on the man advantage with 5:53 to go in the first half. Seita was sensational in the first half and made four or five high-end saves to preserve Cohasset’s lead.

Jeremy Jenkinson, the Whalers senior goalie who won the state title as a sophomore in 2024, made a sensational save with 53 seconds to go in the second quarter to keep it a 5-3 game, and subsequently after a hit post, the Skippers committed their fifth penalty of the half with eight seconds to go in the half.

The Whalers opted to hold the ball and run the clock out in order to take possession and 22 seconds of man advantage time into the second half, but were unable to do anything with the opportunity.

Strong Whaler defense kept Cohasset’s offense in check to start the second quarter, and with 6:09 to go in the third quarter, Cohasset was called for their sixth penalty of the game for too many men. Andrick Mooney had an excellent chance down low but hit the post. After briefly losing possession, the Whalers regained control, hit a post, and Mosscrop finally zipped one past Seita top left corner to make it 5-4 with 4:26 to go in the third quarter off a beautiful pass from Jake Grant.

Hanlon tied it with his second goal of the game after a Whaler possession of over two minutes to make it 5-5 with nine seconds left in the third quarter.

Cohasset dominated time of possession to start the fourth, but the Whaler’s defense and Jenkinson stood tall to keep the ball out of their own net. The Skippers got a man advantage opportunity with 6:26 to go in the game, but Jenkinson made an impressive leg save closing the five hole to keep the game tied.

With 3:59 to go, Cohasset finally broke through to make it 6-5 on a goal from Max Monahan, his third of the contest.

After an excellent defensive play by senior long pole midfielder Canton Jenkinson, the Whalers were able to rush up field and Stringer was able to tie it with 39 seconds to go following an excellent feed from Grant behind the net.

With 23 second to go, Cohasset delivered the dagger. Senior captain Gus Green was able to put on a one man show and beat Jenkinson to make it a 7-6 game. Cohasset hung on in the final seconds and were able to survive an impressive Whaler comeback.

Despite the heartbreaking finish, it was an incredible run by this group of seniors who were able to play in three straight state semifinals, two state title games, and ultimately walk away as state champs after winning the championship in their sophomore season.

Below are some more photos taken by Chris Tran.