LYNN — Tuesday morning at Manning Field, Lynn boys lacrosse coach Peter Pappagianopoulos chose to look on the bright side. 

That’s because the last time his Jets faced Malden, they lost 11-1 earlier this spring. Although Lynn came up short again on Tuesday, 9-6, it was a better team performance.

Malden scored three goals in the first half with two of them on the man-advantage. Despite the costly penalties, Pappagianopoulos wasn’t entirely upset as “penalties will happen.”

“The sport is based around penalties in today’s game, so I won’t get too upset with the penalties we gave up,” Pappagianopoulos said. “None of them were cheap hits. When you’re battling hard, sometimes you make a mistake. We’re a young program, so it is what it is.” 

The Jets trailed by one (3-2) going into the break, mainly because of goalie Christian Serino who registered 10 saves, many against shots from point-blank range. 

“He’s having one hell of a season. He basically single-handedly beat Somerville for us – I think he had 25-30 saves. He kept us in the game against Saugus, too,” Pappagianopoulos said. “He played great today and he’s been playing out of his mind this year.” 

The engines started to wear off from the Jets, however. Malden scored three goals in less than two minutes for a four-goal advantage (6-2). 

“We came out a little flat in the second half – that’s where it died,” Pappagianopoulos said. “Coming into the second half down 3-2 when we lost 11-1 last time, I wasn’t expecting us to run away from them or anything. We kept battling and were down one goal at [the] half. I’ll take it.”

“I thought we had it, but we gave up three quick goals in the second half and had to play the catchup game for the rest,” he added.

The Jets didn’t quit, receiving goals from Ian Brown (3), Jordan Em (2), and Owen Toomey in the second half.

But it wasn’t enough. 

When asked about the hat trick from Brown and pair from Em, Pappagianopoulos spoke highly of the duo and how much they have to take on.

“They’re working their butts off. Last year, we lost six of our best offensive players, so coming into this year, we knew that it would be a tough offensive season,” Pappagianopoulos said. “They’re doing everything I could ask for, trying to fill that void. It’s tough to replace a whole offense.”

Pappagianopoulos credited his assistant coaches for helping find the balance on the offensive side.

“I won’t say I’m an offensive mind, but my assistant coaches have done a great job working with them. It takes a long time to replace, basically, our whole offense,” he said.

The Jets’ next game is Thursday when they travel to Revere for a 10 a.m. showdown