Tourney-bound boys’ lax team dominates Sharon

After two close calls the week before, the CHS boys’ lacrosse team traveled to Sharon last Thursday and came away with one of its most convincing wins to date — a 12-5 victory that was every bit as lopsided as the score suggests.

The win was the Bulldogs’ tenth of the season and guaranteed them second place in the Davenport Division standings, just ahead of Sharon. As a result, Canton earned a date with Mansfield (second in the Hock’s Kelly-Rex Division) in this week’s league crossover game.

Earlier in the season, the Bulldogs lost to Mansfield 8-5, but the young squad appears to have come into its own as of late, having won four of its past five, including Thursday’s dominant win over the Eagles.

“My assistant coach thought it was our most impressive win of the year,” said head coach Bill Bendell. “He was probably right.”

After jumping all over Sharon in the first quarter and building a 6-2 lead, the team had its momentum tested with a 30-minute weather delay. But while the Eagles managed to sneak in a quick goal just 18 seconds after play resumed, Canton refused to let the hosts back in the game, calling a timeout to regroup and then dominating for the remainder of the contest.

“Our kids did a great job — our captains, all of our kids — staying focused,” noted Bendell, whose team took an 8-4 lead into halftime and finished with an equally strong second half.

Although the defense played well, Bendell said it was the Bulldogs’ offense that controlled the game with numerous long possessions and well-executed transition plays.

Junior captain Matt Malloy was particularly effective, finishing with a team-high six points, including four goals and two assists. Senior captain Max Kamin continued his scoring barrage with three more goals, and sophomore Pat Ward netted two goals and assisted on two more.

Also scoring points for Canton were Kurt Leavitt with one goal and one assist, Nick O’Connor and JC Marcone with one goal apiece, and brothers TJ and Matt Lennon, who each tallied an assist.

It wasn’t as if the game was meaningless, either. A victory for the Eagles would have given them an outside shot at second place and would have strengthened their bid for a postseason berth.

Now it appears that Sharon will come up just short, while the Bulldogs, at 10-5 overall, have already locked up a playoff spot and could end up with a fairly high seed with wins in their final two games this week.

Both of those games were expected to be a real challenge, however, as both opponents — Mansfield on Tuesday and nonleague Bishop Connolly on Wednesday — are also headed for the MIAA state tournament.

Seedings for the upcoming tournament will be announced this Friday, with games set to begin after the long weekend on Tuesday, May 31.

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Posted by Jay Turner on May 25 2011. Filed under High School, Sports. Both comments and pings are currently closed.