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The Massachusetts high school boys lacrosse season wrapped up earlier this month at Harvard Stadium, crowning state champions in Duxbury, Concord-Carlisle and Dover-Sherborn. This capped off an incredible season for the state as the level of play and college recruits continues to grow. More and more players from Massachusetts are surfacing on college rosters – each team from this year’s Final Four (Duke, Maryland, Loyola, Notre Dame) had a homegrown product on their roster.
Division One: Duxbury 10, Needham 8
The Dragons continued their utter dominance in the state by winning yet another state championship, the program’s ninth in the last eleven years. Loaded with 11 division one recruits and a total of 16 plyers moving onto college ball, Duxbury entered the season as not only pre-season favorites in-state but the Dragons were also considered one of the nation’s elite teams while playing a schedule that included New York powers Irondequoit, Garden City (Ranked #1 nationally) and Niskayuna.
In the state championship game, senior Sam Sweet, the son of head coach Chris Sweet, led the way with three goals and the Dragons managed to hold off a furious fourth-quarter comeback bid by the Rockets to finish off the victory. Offensive standouts Will Siefert, Paul Hellar and Seamus Connelly all contributed to the attack, while the back line of Max Randle (Dartmouth), Matt O’Keefe (Johns Hopkins) and Jay McDermott (Syracuse) locked it down on defense. Despite trailing, 8-4, Needham fought back to make things exciting behind junior Nico Panpento (four goals).
Division Two: Concord-Carlisle 13 Algonquin 3
After gutting out a 5-4 thriller in the semi-finals over Wellesley, Concord-Carlisle capped off a perfect 22-0 season with a win over Algonquin to capture the school’s first state championship since 1998. Note to readers that in division two the eastern Mass. champion plays the central/west champion in the finals. All-American goalie Doug Gouchoe (Air Force) proved tough to beat, anchoring the defense along with Henry Bumpus and Evan Boynton. The Patriots finished the season without allowing more than seven goals in any game. Offensively, C-C erupted with six goals from Jackson Finigan and five from talented freshman Will Blumenberg. Patriots Coach Tom Dalicandro graduated a number of seniors but with heart and determination the Patriots improved each game and were able to walk away with their first title in over 12 years.
Division 3: Dover-Sherborn 16, North Reading 6
After having been a bridesmaid twice since 2009, the Raiders finally managed to put it all together on the Harvard turf and produced a dominating performance to claim the program’s first ever state title. Brandon Jaeger and Jared Spence each scored four times while Ben Newbert was superb with two goals and seven assists. North Reading actually held an early 2-0 lead, but with senior Billy polk dominating the faceoff X, the Raiders ripped off 11 straight to pull away for Coach Brian McLaughlin’s first championship. While not the ending North Reading was hoping for, the title game appearance marked the end of an oustanding two-year run that saw the Hornets go 42-5 and establish themselves as the leaders of a group of up and coming teams from the North Shore region.
