Warriors roll to 19-1 triumph, go to 8-0 on season
PJ IANNUZZI, a senior midfielder, scored four goals and was dominant on face-offs in Wakefield’s decisive 19-1 victory over Wilmington yesterday at Landrigan Field. (Donna Larsson File Photo)
Published in the April 28, 2017 edition.
By DAN BYRNE
WAKEFIELD — On Thursday the Wakefield Memorial High School varsity boys’ lacrosse team hosted Middlesex League Freedom division opponent Wilmington at Landrigan Field. The Warriors had no trouble making quick work of the Wildcats, disposing of their opponent, 19-1, in a lopsided tilt.
“The thing is preparation and lacrosse IQ,” head coach Andrew Lavalle said after the win talking about what separates his team from some they face.
Austin Collard wasted no time, scoring the first of his five goals just under two minutes into the first quarter.
“Austin Collard got it going early, recognizing match-ups and going to the cage,” said Lavalle.
The Warriors ended up putting seven first quarter goals on the board, far more than they would need to secure the win.
The Warriors led 9-0 at halftime and Wilmington didn’t manage to break through until there were just under four minutes to go in the final quarter.
“We just did what we want to do,” Lavalle said of his team’s dominating performance. “We worked hard to prepare for this week, got ourselves ready to go.”
Lavalle added, “We felt confident coming into this game. We’re confident in most games because we match-up so well with other teams. We’re a tough match-up no matter what.”
The Warriors got four goals apiece from PJ Iannuzzi and Pat Leary and Braedan Langlois and Anthony Forziati had a pair of goals to their credit.
“PJ Iannuzzi is just so dominant on the face-offs. When he’s dodging he’s unstoppable,” the coach said.
Several Warriors had single goal games including Rob Guida, Bobby Keegan, and Henry Miller.
What stood out to Lavalle was the solid four quarters his defense put in against Wilmington saying, “Wins like this are huge team wins. When you see one goal, it’s defense standing on their head every single time. It’s nice to rely on guys like Ty Collins who played a really good game, Alex Joly played the really physical style we like making guys scared to go to the cage, and Devin O’Brien played a great game.”
At the back, Ryan Chambers was his usual unbeatable self in net for the Warriors,
“Even some of the shots they took were point blank,” Lavalle said. “So it’s nice to have a guy like Ryan Chambers who you can rely on, he made some big time saves for us.”
Coach Lavalle emphasized the importance of this week in preparing for the upcoming games on the schedule.
“Going into this game we started calling this ‘peak week’,” Lavalle said. “This is the time of the year we really want to start peaking. The next couple of games, we have Marblehead on Saturday, we usually see them in the playoffs. Next week, we have Winchester on Tuesday. We want to be peaking and going into those games feeling great, and after a day like today and our last game, it’s nice to not only win but play a team game.”
Wakefield now takes a record of 8-0 into the weekend as they host Marblehead on Saturday at 11 a.m. at Landrigan Field.
