Rough Start for New Advanced Math and Science Academy Lacrosse Team
Saturday, May 12, 2012
The first thing that jumps out is the fact that the team caries three girls on its roster, all of whom play real minutes, and that this high school team relies heavily on junior high athletes. It was just a year ago that coach Marc Zarrella got the green light from the school to begin intramural play, and now the Eagles are just past half way through their first competitive season.
“We’re learning, we’ve got a lot of young kids on this team. Two-thirds of our starting attack is in eighth grade,” Zarrella said. “The toughest thing has just been getting the commitment from the kids, because they are kids. Going from a fun intramural thing last season and getting them to realize the time commitment it takes at a competitive level.”
Raising the Level of Competition
The team is playing a schedule consisting mostly of other school’s junior varsity teams, but they have faced varsity opponents as well. Yesterday’s game against Nipmuc Regional’s JV saw the Eagles fall in an early two-goal hole, but the team hung in and did not quit. A 23-save effort from seventh grade goalie Matt Mongeau helped the Eagles fight their way back into the game.
Still, the Eagles fell 8-5, dropping them to 0-7 on the season. Despite the slow start, Zarrella is encouraged by the way his team has progressed.
“We were a little behind on practice time because of field availability,” Zarrella said. “We’ve had a few blowouts, but we’ve played some close ones. Games like (yesterday) are games I think we can win next year.”
Key Players
Like many other young programs in the area, the team has drawn athletes from other sports. Defenseman Matt Cummings had never picked up a lacrosse stick until last year, and on top of that, the coaching staff had him worrying about which stick to use.
After starting out as an attacker, Zarrella told Cummings if he took a long stick and played defense, he would never come off the field. Cummings moved back to defense and is now one of the team’s leaders. His aggressive mentality from football may have helped, but he says that sometime it was a bit too much.
“I try to keep it clean, but I’m used to football,” Cummings said with a smile. “The transition from hitting people in football to hitting people in lacrosse was tough. I used to just plant people, because I didn’t know the rules. So, I had to figure that out.”
After finally finding a home in the midfield, he has a pretty simple goal for himself and his team.
“Not get worse,” Folan said with a chuckle. “And just get better.”
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