Oakmont Lacrosse Out for Revenge and a League Title Today

Friday, May 18, 2012

Joe Parello, GoLocalWorcester Contributor

Freshman attacker Jeff Correia.

The lacrosse team at Oakmont Regional will have revenge on their minds today when it battles Tyngsborough.

The Spartans (13-2) are riding an eight-game winning streak after a mid-season lull that saw them lose back-to-back games. The first of those two games was to league newcomer Tyngsborough, and coach Mick O’Reilly believes that loss hung with his team.

“That first loss to Tyngsborough was tough, and they’re a team we’ve never seen before,” O’Reilly said of the Tigers who just joined Mid Wach B this season. “Obviously, they’re undefeated, so they’re having a great first year in the league. Then we lost to Groton-Dunstable later that week, and I think that was more of an emotional letdown for us. Groton is a good team too, but we just didn’t play with great energy.”

O’Reilly certainly expects his team to come with energy today. Tyngsborough was the only team to score over 15 goals on the Spartans this season, and since the second game against the Tigers was delayed from Tuesday to today due to rain, O’Reilly says his players can barely contain their excitement.

“(Tuesday) we were all ready to go, ready to battle,” O’Reilly said. “Then they told us there was going to be a delay, and the guys were not happy. They were upset because it wasn’t raining at the time, and they really wanted to play that game. So they are definitely looking forward to another shot at Tyngsborough.”

High Powered Offense

Other than the mid-season rough patch, the Spartans have been nearly unstoppable this season. Oakmont ranks second in all of Central Mass in goals per game with 13.79 behind only Grafton. The attack is led by senior Mike Markevich, who paces the Spartans with 78 points (53G, 25A). Fellow senior Jason Shell provides another scoring punch on the attack, but also leads the team in assists with his 74 points (42G, 32A).

The attack also features talented freshman Jeff Correia, who has been able to contribute for this senior-laden team. While the offense has gotten the majority of the praise, O’Reilly says his defense is one of the best kept secrets in the region.

The Oakmont offense has put up big numbers, but senior goalie Trevor Garofano and the defense have been great as well.

“The defense has been playing really well, and before the season we knew we would have a pretty good group,” O’Reilly said. “The three guys we have back there have been together since 6th grade, so they know each other well and work really well together.”

An Experienced Defense

Oakmont starts three seniors on defense, and another in net. Classmates Tom Moorshead, Alec Zbikowski and Tom Loomis have kept opposing attackers away from the net all year, and goalie Trevor Garofano has been a solid last line of defense.

The defense has given up only 7 goals a game this year, and Garofano has posted an impressive 57.5% save percentage. A win today against the Tigers would earn Oakmont at least a share of the Mid Wach B title. With that in mind, O’Reilly is hoping that his team’s earlier losses just served as motivation.

“The loss to Tyngsborough earlier this year is a lot like when we lost to Littleton early last year,” O’Reilly said. “It was a real wakeup call for us, and it sent us on a little tear last year. We hope we can do the same this year.”

Oakmont will host Tyngsborough today, with face off set for 4 pm.