Will Walker scored seven goals and John Uppgren had a hand in five straight goals during a game-changing run as Bullseye capped the first-ever undefeated season in Boston Box Lacrosse League history with a 14-10 win in the BBLL title game played Feb. 26 at South Shore Sports Center in Hingham.
Down 6-3 with five minutes remaining in the half following a natural hat trick from Whales lefty forward Greg Melaugh, Uppgren sparked a comeback that knotted the score – feeding Chris Breiner and then Walker twice – by half and that carried into a long second-half run.
Uppgren opened the second-half scoring himself at 21:50, and fed Danny Murphy inside less than a minute later. After Walker finished a feed from Breiner, Uppgren got his second score of the night with a slick run through and over the MegaWhales defense.
In all, Bullseye’s run would extend to eight goals and for 19 minutes of playing time. Melaugh broke the streak with his fourth goal of the game, and Mark Goodrich followed with his third of the night as the MegaWhales clawed back into contention, but every time the game threatened to get tighter, Walker had an answer; the MVP of the BBLL playoffs for the second straight year, Walker had 11 goals and 3 assists – plus 9 loose balls and 2 caused turnovers – in Bullseye’s playoff run.
Uppgren finished the game with two scores and five helpers, with Joe Nardella adding two markers and 16 loose balls; Breiner and Murphy each added three points on the night, and Alex Krawec stopped 24 shots to keep the MegaWhales at bay. Goodrich scored four goals and added three assists to lead the MegaWhales, with Melaugh finishing with five points on the night and Dan Hettler contributing two goals and two assists. Scott Corcoran spearheaded the Whales defense with three caused turnovers; he registered six in the two playoff games.
Bullseye lost four consecutive closely fought BBLL finals to the Blazers from 2015-2018, before going 13-1 and finally capturing the title with a win over the Blazers in 2018-19. The team defended its championship by going unbeaten during the 12-game regular season, eliminating the Blazers in the semi-final round to earn a spot in the finals. The MegaWhales finished second in the regular season at 8-4; they earned their finals berth with a come-from-behind overtime win of the Minutemen (6-6) in the semi-finals.
The end of the fall-winter season means that the Boston Box Lacrosse League will now be closed until the start of its summer season in June. For information on the summer league, write to bostonboxlax@gmail.com.
