One month into the regular season, the Marblehead High boys lacrosse team was 5-5, Since the beginning of May, however, they are 5-2. One of those wins came against Melrose on May 15, 11-4. It was a nice bounce back triumph after losing to Masco the day before, 18-8. They then went up against Winthrop last week on May 20, and promptly defeated them handily to the tune of 15-2 to clinch a berth in the Division 2 state tournament. The regular season was supposed to end last Thursday (May 22) at Swampscott, but Mother Nature had other ideas. The rivals, instead, played the game on Memorial Day night (May 26), and the Big Blue was able to escape with a 7-6 win.
Since then, these Magicians (10-8) found out on Wednesday that they are the 27th seed in the final Division 2 power rankings, and had to go up against host Reading Memorial (15-3), the sixth seed, the next night (May 29) in a Round of 32 game. But unfortunately, the results certainly didn’t go their way, losing to the Rockets, 17-2.
But just getting to that point was an achievement worth talking about, and veteran Marblehead boys lacrosse coach John Wilkens has a simple explanation for the sudden turnaround in May. “It’s all about the kids,” he said. “They are playing with more energy and juice, and are doing the little things that win games.”
Wilkens also said that they have been more focused, and as a result have been working hard throughout every game.
But they stayed away from that winning formula against Masco. “We were flat in that game,” Wilkens said. “We threw the ball away too many times, but it was just the opposite in the win against Melrose.”
In that Masco game, it was never really close. They were trailing the Chieftains even at halftime, 10-2. Tyler Forbes (1 goal, 1 assist), Reece Moore (2 and 1), Will Sullivan (4 goals) and Grady Becker (1 and 1) were the offensive contributors. Junior goalie Colin Maniaci came up with nine saves.
Forbes (3 goals), Moore (3 goals) and Sullivan (3 goals, 1 assist) were the leading scorers against Melrose. Colin White and Owen Dulac chipped in with one goal apiece. James Achterof collected two assists. Maniaci helped preserve the win by turning aside eight shots.
Finally, against Winthrop, Forbes was once again one of the team’s leading scorers with three goals and one assist. Moore was its point leader with two goals and five assists. Sullivan had four goals and two assists. Achterof put two home. White (one goal, two assists), Dulac (1 goal), Gavin Ferretti (1 goal) and Becker (1 goal) also accounted for scores. Sean Dolan and Avin Rodovsky each setup one score. Maniaci only had to come with five stops to record another win.
