Northbridge Lacrosse Raises over $1,000 for Cancer Research

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Joe Parello, GoLocalWorcester Contributor

Senior attacker Corey Marinaccio has raised the most money on Northbridge's team.

While they haven’t had the season they were hoping for on the field, members of the Northbridge High School lacrosse team have found a way to make an impact off it.

Saturday’s 4-3 win over rival Blackstone Valley Tech was Northbridge’s final home game of the year, and also marked the end of the team’s “Goal-a-thon” to raise money for cancer research. Throughout the season players received donations from parents, teachers and friends for each goal they scored, as well as each goal the team scored.

“Last year, the father of our team captain was diagnosed with, and ultimately passed away from cancer,” Northbridge coach Steve Falconer said. “So we decided, as a team, to do something to help their family. It was thrown together a little bit hastily last year, and we just raffled off some Red Sox tickets, so this year we came up with the idea for the ‘Goal-a-thon.’”

The money raised went directly to a local father riding in the Pan-Mass Challenge, with his money going to the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Despite being thrown together rather quickly, last year’s drive funded by a raffle raised over $500. This year, however, the “Goal-a-thon” has raised over $1,000, with senior attacker Cory Marinaccio’s 24 goals leading the way.

“I think (raising money) has really brought the team together,” Marinaccio said. “It allows us to, not only place value on our goals in terms of winning games, but lets us know that each time we score, it helps a little bit. Even though we didn’t have as great of a season as we hoped, we’re happy to be making a difference.”

The plan is once again to give a check to that same father as he rides in the Pan-Mass Challenge. The Rams head into their season finale today against St. Bernard's with a record of 6-11. Though it is a slight improvement from last year’s 5-13 campaign, it is not the jump anybody at Northbridge was hoping for. Still, Falconer has been impressed with his young team’s attitude throughout the year.

Coach Steve Falconer and his team didn't have the year they hoped on the field, but have made a difference off of it.

“We have a lot of young guys, and it’s easy to get frustrated when things aren’t going your way,” Falconer said. “But doing something like this, it takes us outside of lacrosse. To be able to turn over a check to a local dad that everybody knows, I think we win in the end, regardless.”

While the idea of raising money for cancer started out of tragedy last season, Falconer has decided to stick with it because nearly everyone has been touched by cancer in some way. He also says that, as long as he is the coach of Northbridge, the team will continue to raise money each year.

“It’s something that I think is really important,” Falconer said. “As long as I’m here, we are going to keep doing it. Whether we are undefeated, or totally defeated, this is something that I think makes us winners.”