Central Region Lax Earns Silver Medals in 2015 Bay State Games

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Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Bruno Nardone, Guest MINDSETTER ™

There was a lot of anticipation leading up to the 2015 Bay State Games Boys Lacrosse Summer Tournament. Fourth year Central Region coach Bruno Nardone knew that a Gold medal repeat would be tough with a team that featured younger, less seasoned players than the 2014 squad. However, with a lot ofgreat lacrosse talent emerging from Central Massachusetts high schools, it was easy to expect a strong performance. The Central Region for Bay States runs roughly between 495 and Quabbin reservoir and from the CT to NH borders.

Unfortunately, the team started the three day tournament (July 14 – 16) with two tough losses on Tuesday to the West and South-East region teams, and the outlook began to turn grim.  The team wasn’t clicking on offense, and a number of unforced errors forced them, without much bench depth, to play too much of the game on the defensive end of the field.  Wednesday was a new day and promised an opponent that Central would match up better against with the North-East region team.  Although Central led for much of the game, North-East continued to battle back, eventually scoring a tying goal with 11 seconds left on the clock.

Eager to avoid a sudden death overtime and to notch out a win, the Central squad laid out a plan off the ensuing face-off to optimize their opportunity for a quick score.  Algonquin Regional HS midfielder Thomas Polutchko won the face-off after a brief scramble and found Nipmuc Attackman Nolan Brady in front of the goal for a shot that left his stick a fraction of a second before the final buzzer went off.  The ball found the back of the net, and
the Central squad had good reason to rush the field for a celebration that couldn’t have been scripted better.  In addition to helping with seeding, the hard fought victory seemed to galvanize them as a team.

The third day marked the beginning of the playoffs with the number 1 ranked team playing the number 4 team, and 2 playing 3.  Winners would play for the Gold and Silver medals, while those that lost in these semifinals would play for Bronze.  Central would be playing the 2nd ranked South-East team who beat them badly on the tournament’s first day. Holding onto the lightning it had caught the day before, Central came out playing a spirited game on both ends of the field to decisively beat an opponent in South-East whose attitude suggested they expected to coast into the Gold medal game.  Following an unlikely path, the Central team found
themselves playing for a repeat of 2014.

Unfortunately, their luck ran out in the final game.  Although they played great, Central didn’t have enough to overcome the overwhelming offense of this year’s West region team.  After a great tournament run they proudly
accepted Silver medals and the runner up spot. The offense was pretty evenly balanced across the squad with rising seniors TJ Melanson of North Middlesex HS and Cam Moran setting the tempo at Midfield and Attack respectively.  The rest of the attack was rounded out by Nolan Bradley from Nipmuc Regional, Jack Boyle from Milford High, and Tyler Kerwin, Matt Cannon, and Davis Lemieux from Algonquin HS.  Midfield was
balanced by Evan Doherty from Marlborough HS, and Thomas Polutchko, Drew Cammarano, Patrick Boyle, Sam Danberg and Tommy Ackil from Algonquin HS.

The Defense showed amazing stamina throughout the tournament with five players all from Algonquin fending off opponents.  Playing every minute of every game at close Defense were Jake Kelleher, Justin Leva, and Graham Roche.  Long-stick Middie services were expertly delivered from Michael Guay.  And anchoring the group was Daniel MacDonald at Goalie, who in addition to providing consistent shot stopping efforts, kept team’s
spirits high with enthusiastic rallying cries at every break.

The Central Massachusetts team has a lot to be proud of with their performance during the 2015 Bay State Games tournament.  Their well-deserved silver medal finish was hard earned through following the principles of team play, unselfishness, and positive sportsmanship.

See the Full Roster Below:
Name Hometown Grade School
Ackil, Tommy Southborough 9 Algonquin Regional HS
Boyle, Patrick Northborough 9 Algonquin Regional HS
Boyle, Jack Milford 11 Milford HS
Bradley, Nolan Upton 11 Nipmuc Regional HS
Cammarano, Drew Northborough 10 Algonquin Regional HS
Cannon, Matthew Northborough 10 Algonquin Regional HS
Danberg, Sam Northborough 10 Algonquin Regional HS
Doherty, Evan Marlborough 9 Marlborough HS
Guay, Michael Northborough 11 Algonquin Regional HS
Kelleher, Jake Northborough 11 Algonquin Regional HS
Kerwin, Tyler Northborough 11 Algonquin Regional HS
Lemieux, Davis Southborough 10 Algonquin Regional HS
Leva, Justin Northborough 10 Algonquin Regional HS
MacDonald, Daniel Northborough 10 Algonquin Regional HS
Melanson, Todd Townsend 11 North Middlesex Regional HS
Moran, Cameron Leominster 11 Leominster HS
Polutchko, Thomas Southborough 11 Algonquin Regional HS
Roche, Graham Southorough 10 Algonquin Regional HS

Head Coach – Bruno Nardone
Assistant Coaches – Paul Nardone and Jack Henn

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