ANTHONY FORZIATI gets through a pack of Marauders for an up-close finish to give Wakefield a 5-0 lead in the second quarter. (Dan Pawlowski Photo)
Published in the May 14, 2019 edition.
WAKEFIELD — The WMHS boys’ lacrosse team hosted Belmont on Friday looking four their fourth consecutive win to help them keep an incredible turnaround going.
The Warriors fell to 2-6 after a loss in Burlington on April 26. They haven’t lost since.
Wakefield, continuing a trend from their wins over Watertown, Arlington and Woburn, took control early and were terrific on both sides of the field as they beat the Marauders 12-2.
During their four-game run, the Warriors have outscored their opponents 53-9.
Wakefield’s second goal of the game came from Mike Lucey after a great pass from Anthony Forziati.
Max DiMella later came out of nowhere to pick off a pass in front Belmont’s goal and finish low to help the Warriors to a 3-0 lead after the first quarter.
The Warriors added four more unanswered tallies in the second quarter as they controlled the pace.
Cam Souza, who had another great game leading the defense, scored Wakefield’s fourth after fighting through contact to break into the offensive zone. Souza read the play, set his feet and unleashed a missile into the net.
Forziati got the next two as the Warriors maintained most of the possession in the frame. “Forzi” had a scrappy finish in front to make it 5-0 then, after Max DiMella keep a play alive with a groundball, Forziati fit one neatly into the top shelf through traffic from a difficult angle.
It seemed Wakefield would be content with a 6-0 halftime lead as the Belmont defense got the ball with just about 20 seconds remaining. Derryn Langlois, proving the mentality of a team who plays hard in every situation, rode the defense and forced a turnover with a perfect stick check. Lucey just beat the buzzer after a dish from behind the net, giving Wakefield a 7-0 lead.
Forziati got the first in the third quarter on another nice pass from DiMella.
Dan Guarino got a piece of a point blank shot to keep Belmont off the board.
Guarino and a relentless defense made plenty of great clears. Getting stops wasn’t enough as they finished their possessions by always setting up the offense in great spots.
Lucey scored again to make it 9-0 and Guarino had another quality save and clear after Belmont scored their first goal and Wakefield went up 9-1 after three.
Jake Regan scored the first two goals of the fourth with strong finishes through contact and he later set up Forziati for the last Wakefield goal of the game.
The Warriors and head coach Tim Johnson are now finally back at .500 and officially rolling.
Wakefield is once again a confident team, especially considering the quality of teams who they lost to. All six of the losses early in the season came against teams highly ranked in the most recent Boston
Herald Eastern Mass. top 25 list: Winchester (5), St. John’s Prep (6), Acton-Boxborough (7) and Reading (17) all made the cut while Lexington and Burlington are both listed as teams to watch.
There are still tough opponents on the schedule, most notably Melrose (16) who visits Landrigan Field on Thursday at 4:15 p.m. But Wakefield, who travels to Wilmington today, is a different team now and certainly looking forward to those opportunities.
