Boys’ lax continues slide with a pair of losses

By Dan DeBlasio

The Canton High School boys’ lacrosse team dropped a pair of games against Hockomok League foes this week, falling to King Philip 9-3 on Tuesday and Oliver Ames 7-5 on Friday.

The slumping Bulldogs knew it was an important week, as they were coming off a rough outing last time out against Sharon while also losing one of their captains, senior Kyle Leavitt, for the rest of the season due to injury.

Canton was able to stay close early against traditional lacrosse power King Philip, but after a strong first quarter, the Bulldogs fell behind and went into the half trailing 5-1.

“We were tied 1-1 after the first quarter and played tough in quarters three and four,” said coach Bill Bendell. “The difference was that we did not play well in the second quarter as King Philip outscored us 4-0 during that time.” 

The four unanswered goals proved too much for Bulldogs to overcome. But while they trailed the rest of the match, they also never let it get out of control.

“We knew it was going to be a challenge,” Bendell said. “The good news is that we didn’t play our best game and we were within striking distance the entire time.”

Sophomore attack man Matt Malloy led the scoring with two goals and one assist, and senior Andrew Reardon added a goal. Tyler Briggs, TJ Lennon, Nick O’Connor, Kurt Leavitt, and JC Marcone all created opportunities on the offensive end.

Devin Costa made 13 saves in the cage while senior captain Chris Thomas shut down many King Philip attacks in front of him.

The game against Oliver Ames was a tale of two halves. Canton fell behind early and went into the break trailing 5-1. The Bulldogs then came storming back in the second half, dominating both sides of the field.

“This was a typical Canton versus Oliver Ames lacrosse game,” Bendell said. “They are always close games and they are always hard fought.”

The effort was not enough, though, and the Bulldogs fell just short of the victory. 

“I thought we played pretty well overall, but we had a couple of costly mental mistakes and penalties that ultimately cost us the game,” Bendell said.

Junior attack man Max Kamin played his finest game of the year and led the team in scoring with three goals. Briggs and O’Connor scored the other goals while Kurt Leavitt and Malloy contributed the assists. Thomas and Connor O’Brien led the defensive effort.

The Bulldogs’ lone game this week was at Franklin on Tuesday. They will next travel to Mansfield on April 26 and then to Foxboro on April 30 before returning home on May 3 to take on North Attleboro.

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Posted by Canton Citizen on Apr 22 2010. Filed under High School, Sports. Both comments and pings are currently closed.