Wakefield golf starts promising season with two monumental wins

By DAN PAWLOWSKI 

NORTH READING — The Wakefield High golf team spent last season working on their game. As is the case with younger teams gaining experience, the Warriors didn’t focus on the results so much as the process. 

So it goes with golf anyways. 

Wakefield finished 3-11 overall in 2023 but accomplished their goal of steady improvement with the hopes that an offseason of commitment to breaking through would result in future success. 

Did it work?

Well, the 2024 Warriors also have a chance to get to three wins…before the calendar even flips to September.

At their home Thomson Country Club in North Reading, Wakefield beat Lexington 39.5-32.5, their first win over the Minutemen in head coach Chris Keane’s nine-year tenure. 

They followed that up 24 hours later with a thrilling 37-35 win over Melrose at Mount Hood Golf Course. It was Wakefield’s first win over their rivals since 2019. 

The two, monumental early-season victories are proof that the Warriors have put the work in to build a foundation in which they can move on from their goal of getting better and focus on competing with the best the Middlesex League has to offer. 

“The team has strong goals for this season. We struggled a little bit last year and just ‘improving’ this year isn’t enough,” says Keane. “The team goals are to make the state sectional tournament and to contend for our side of the league. I know the guys have some higher individual goals as well.”

Some of those individuals no doubt include Wakefield’s top two players in the lineup: sophomore Patrick Maloney and senior captain Luke Greif. 

Greif is the team’s leader, back for his second season as a captain. Part of the benefits of having a junior captain in golf is the hope that they can encourage their guys to hit the links during the dog days of school vacation in preparation for the season. Greif has done that and more, setting the tone for the 2024 Warriors. He shot a 39 to beat his Lexington opponent 5-4 and a 38 against Melrose.

“He has been tremendous,” said Keane of Greif. “I know he was motivating the team to get out on the course this summer and he is always leading by example. I couldn’t ask for a better captain.”

Maloney put Wakefield on the map in the summer, firing a 75 at the Mass Public Links Qualifier held at Sagamore Spring and advancing to the Championship Round. 

Maloney beat Lexington’s No. 1 5-4 with a 38 and Melrose’s No. 1 5.5-3.5 with a 36. 

“Patrick will again be our number 1 golfer,” said Keane. “He’s incredibly talented, but he works at it constantly. Every coach wants their top player to be their top worker, and that’s Patrick. He also knows that for the team to be successful that the other guys have to put in the work too. He’s fantastic at motivating his teammates to get out and work on their games.”

That motivating group will also include senior Deagan Pothier who returns as Wakefield’s No. 5 this year, a sign of the team’s improved depth. Pothier is 2-0, matching Maloney with an incredible 36 at Mount Hood to win 5.5-3.5 yesterday and also beating his Lexington opponent 6.5-2.5 with a 38 at Thomson.

“Daegan is another senior we will look to for leadership,” said Keane. “He’s coming off a pretty serious shoulder injury but used that as motivation to improve his short game over the summer.”

The Middlesex League format matches up the top eight players head-to-head for nine holes and awards a point for each hole you win. A tie equals a half-point. The Warriors went 6-4 overall against the Minutemen but had more drastic victories like Pothier’s 6.5-2.5 along with sophomore Brayden Myette (38) and junior Jake Morris (42) who both won 6-3. 

That margin also affected their losses, like freshman Michael Yianacopolus who shot a 42 in his first match, playing at No. 4, falling by one point but still picking up 4 points for the team. 

Yianacopolus and Ryan Dodge are two freshmen that will be counted on to chip in right away. 

“We expect them to be contributors,” says Keane. “They have a lot of potential but more importantly have great attitudes.”

Altogether, the Warriors were consistent from start to finish against Lexington, taking control early so they could limit those tense moments that sometimes come late in the match.

Of course, this year’s team isn’t shying away from those clutch moments…quite the contrary. 

“This year we are really focusing on playing under pressure,” said Keane. “We’ve had a bunch of players play tournament golf over the summer to get ready for match play season. Being able to hit pressure shots and pressure putts are going to really elevate our team.  

“After being fringe varsity players last year, Ryan McCarthy, Jake Morris and Brayden Myette have all taken a big jump in that area and will be big contributors for us in the varsity line-up.”

Match play requires consistent golf from the entire lineup. And while the top half must set the tone, it’s the bottom half, at first glance, typically the lesser experienced golfers, that often determine the outcome of a close match as they are the last ones on the green. 

In that regard, McCarthy and Morris, grouped together at 7 and 8, came up clutch for Wakefield with up and downs on the ninth and final hole, meaning two shots to first get on the green and then bury the subsequent putt. Morris shot a 39 to beat his opponent 5.5-3.5. The two rivals split the head-to-head matchups 4-4 but Wakefield got more hole victories and of course, hit more pressure shots to get the win, against a team that has reigned supreme as the winners of the Freedom Division in each of the last five seasons. 

Maloney (36), Yianacopolus (41) and Pothier (36) also had 5.5-3.5 wins.

Sitting at 2-0 is always a great place to be, even more so for the ’24 Warriors who are ready to make some noise this season.

The schedule won’t get any easier for Wakefield with three road matches coming up next against Liberty Large opponents: Belmont tomorrow, Woburn on Sept. 3 and Arlington on Sept. 5, however, if their 2-0 start is any indication, the Warriors will be up for the challenge.