Boys’ lacrosse celebrates senior night with big win

Fresh off a slump-busting win against Oliver Ames early last week, the CHS boys’ lacrosse team continued its late-season rebound with a 13-3 home win over Milford on senior night last Wednesday.

Senior Austin Zannino (Mike Barucci photo)

The win improved the team’s record to 6-7 in the Hockomock League and 6-10 overall as the Bulldogs look to finish strong despite missing out on the playoffs for the first time in several seasons.

Wednesday’s convincing victory over the Hawks also meant a lot to the team’s seven seniors, who have consistently impressed the coaching staff with their work ethic and leadership throughout a trying season.

Senior Austin Zannino set the tone right out of the gate, scoring on a pass from junior Tommy Galvin to give the Bulldogs an early 1-0 advantage. Zannino went on to score another goal and also racked up three assists in what was arguably his best performance of the spring.

Senior captain Ben Lodge, a former attackman turned all-league goalie, was given a chance to play some offense late in the game and came through with a goal, while JV goalie Matt Minichiello took over in the cage, racking up five fourth-quarter saves.

Canton also got plenty of production from its three scoring leaders: Galvin (4 goals, 2 assists), sophomore Ben O’Neill (3 goals, 3 assists), and junior Paul Swart (2 goals, 2 assists). Freshman Dan Dillon scored his first varsity goal and assisted on two others, while classmate Joe Mulkay pitched in with a couple of assists of his own.

Also playing well for Canton were senior captain Matt Bagley and fellow seniors Eric Wong, Casey Dwyer, and Seleem Elkadi. Senior defenseman Quinn Merrigan did not play in the game due to an injury, although he was cleared to play on Friday and was expected back in the lineup this week.

Reflecting on Wednesday’s win, head coach Bill Bendell said he was happy to see the seniors play well, yet he was equally thrilled to see them mentoring the younger players, including recent JV call-ups Nick Gustafson, Dan Nadeau, and Andrew Gellerman, who all saw action in the game.

“We knew it was senior night and we wanted to highlight and showcase the seniors,” said Bendell, “but we also wanted to give some of the younger players a shot. And the seniors were so supportive and encouraging and kind of took them under their wing. I heard a lot of great conversations that night between them and the younger guys.”

This week, the Bulldogs were due to play two more on the road to close out the season — at Foxboro on Monday and at nonleague Medway on Wednesday.

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Posted by Jay Turner on May 22 2014. Filed under High School, Sports. Both comments and pings are currently closed.