Sports

D-S Boys Lacrosse Win Tri-Valley League Championship Over Medfield

The Raiders won their first lacrosse Tri-Valley League title in school history.

The Dover-Sherborn boys varsity lacrosse team won their first Tri-Valley League title in school history Thursday night with a 7-5 victory over Medfield.

Both teams battled hard through wet and foggy weather conditions, but in the end the Raiders were able to capitalize on Medfield's miscues to win the championship.

It was a low-scoring game with both teams playing tough defense. After trading goals early Medfield had a 3-2 lead at the half.

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“I thought their defense put a lot of pressure on us. We had trouble moving the ball at times. Our defense played great, the man-down defense was superb. Because they had a lot of good shots on the man-up and we got some stops there so that was key,” said Raiders head coach Brian McLaughlin.

The Warriors marched down the field in the beginning of the third quarter scoring in the first 12 seconds of the period to take a two goal lead.

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D-S responded by scoring four unanswered goals in the third quarter, capitalizing on errant passes and penalties made by Medfield.

The Warriors weren't able to battle back in the fourth quarter allowing D-S to score two more goals for the 7-5 win.

“It wasn’t a close game at all. The score was closer than the game was. We couldn’t pick up a ground ball. They got every ground ball. They made passes and didn’t drop them, we made passes and threw them out of bounds or dropped them,” said Medfield head coach Bob Aronson.

“They were doing everything right, we were doing everything wrong. It’s a bad combo,” said Aronson.

Raiders goalie Jeff Williams played outstanding in net, shutting out Medfield for most of the third quarter when D-S took their lead.

“He’s been great for three years. He’s a three-year starter and I don’t know where we’d be without him because he’s the backbone of our defense and just an all-around great kid too,” McLaughlin said.

“When we tell them not to shoot at his feet and they shoot at his feet 15 times, 20 times he looks like an All-American. He’s a good goalie but on soft dirt when you shoot at feet it’s going to just stop in the mud and that’s what happened,” Aronson said.

After having their 119 game TVL winning streak broken earlier this week, Medfield has now lost three straight games.

For D-S, it was their first time taking the TVL title and their first victory over Medfield in a long time.

“It’s been a very long time. They’re a great team and they’ve been great champions so we were lucky to beat them this time. They’ve been so good for so long,” McLaughlin said.

"They’ve been champions for so long it was nice to finally knock them off once. We’ve been close a couple times but they’ve been great,” said McLaughlin. “It’s awesome. It’s a great feeling, the kids should enjoy it.”

When asked what the Warriors need to do to get back to their winning ways Aronson said: "I have no idea."

Billy Polk led the Raiders with three goals on the night. 

“He’s Mr. Everything for us. He takes the face-offs, ends up on defense a lot, and he had a huge game today,” McLaughlin said.

Jared Spence, P.J. Copponi, Chad Huemme, and Chris Flight all scored one goal apiece in what was truly a team effort.

Peter Gill led Medfield with two goals while Ben Mastrogiovanni, Chris Diana, and Matthew Ruzzo all scored a goal apiece.

“They’re a very good team. They’re disciplined they can recognize opportunities and take advantage of them and they did that tonight,” Aronson said.

 

 


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