Warriors (2-3) look to get back on track in Marblehead Tuesday

Published in the April 13, 2018 edition.

By DAN BYRNE

WAKEFIELD — On Thursday, the Wakefield Memorial High School Boys’ Varsity Lacrosse team played host to Lexington at Landrigan Field as the Warriors sought their first Middlesex League win of the season following a loss to Winchester in the league opener.

Unfortunately for head coach Andrew Lavalle’s team, the Minutemen were on top of their game, and took a win from the Warriors by a 14-10 final score.

It went all wrong from the beginning, as the Warriors quickly fell into a 6-0 hole in the first quarter. A spirited effort in the 2nd quarter saw the lead cut down to four at 8-4 going into halftime.

Wakefield struggled with staying out of the penalty box, with a Warriors player being sent to the sideline 17 times, most of which came in the first half.

In the third quarter, Lexington came out shooting and notched a goal 10 seconds into the second half. It wasn’t until late in the quarter, after Lexington had extended the lead back to six at 10-4 before the Warriors started scoring again.

Defenseman Ryan Fitzpatrick was the most efficient offensive player for the Warriors as he was the only member of the home team with more than one goal, scoring a hat trick on three shots.

The Warriors fought back in the 4th quarter, with a goal nine seconds into the frame. Wakefield’s comeback efforts were derailed by Lexington’s relentless offensive attack.

Wakefield’s defense was undermanned due to injuries, leaving goalkeeper Ryan Chambers exposed in net.

The Warriors’ normally stalwart goalie, allowed Lexington to score 14 times, while making 14 saves in the process.

Wakefield cut the lead down to four with just under five minutes to play, but were unable to get another goal into the net, and when the clock ran out, their record fell to 0-2 in the Middlesex League and 2-2 overall.

After the game, coach Lavalle spoke about what he saw after the game.

“We started six goals down. If you start at a deficit like that, you’re going to put yourself into trouble every single time,” he said.

“So you can’t win doing that, the fact of the matter is we got off to a slow start, then we progressively got a little bit better,” he added.

Lavalle continued saying, “The big thing was we couldn’t stay out of the penalty box, we were talking when we shouldn’t be talking, then that’s the end of the game, once that starts rolling, it all goes downhill.”

“We had a lot of guys out, but hey that’s no excuse, we should be able to get a W there,” the coach said.

“The other thing too was that those guys (Lexington) played well, they played hard, made the right decision, that’s the name of the game. We’re younger, we’re struggling,” The coach said.

“We know what we need to work on, a lot of transition problems, and we just gotta pump the ball in the net. That’s what we have to work on, it’s not one facet of the game, it’s all facets of the game.”

The Warriors will be on the field again next Tuesday as they head on the road to Marblehead for a non-league matchup at noon.