CHS boys lacrosse trounces Taunton for 1st win
By Jay Turner
Junior Dan Dillon and the CHS boys lacrosse team have high hopes for this season. (Mike Barucci photo)
Update: The CHS boys lacrosse team earned a split at home this week with a big win over Scituate followed by a 10-4 loss to King Philip. The Bulldogs (2-3) will host Norwood on Thursday, April 21, at 11 a.m.
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Following a rough opening stretch that included back-to-back losses to Hockomock large school teams, the CHS boys varsity lacrosse team bounced back on Friday with its first victory of the season — a 14-1 blowout win over a brand-new Taunton team.
While the result was somewhat expected given the disparity in talent level and experience between the two programs, head coach Bill Bendell said it was still nice to get that first ‘W’ on the board. He also liked the fight that the Bulldogs showed in their second game against Mansfield — an eventual 7-5 defeat — and he continues to have high hopes for this team even as he navigates some early season lineup challenges.
“Our approach as we go into the season is to ignore the scoreboard and just play to the best of our ability and the wins will follow,” said the 12-year veteran. “We’ll just focus on getting better, try to build some depth and build some scorers and just see what happens.”
Although the Bulldogs lost two of their top three scoring options from a season ago in Paul Swart and Tommy Galvin, Bendell said the team still has plenty of returning talent, led by co-captains Ben O’Neill and Michael Pigeon and senior goalie Chris Albert.
O’Neill, a senior attackman, buried a team-high 46 goals last season and is off to another fast start this year with six goals and three assists through the first three games. Pigeon, meanwhile, will be gunning for his second straight all-star selection after emerging as the league’s top long-stick midfielder during a breakout sophomore campaign. And Albert was a borderline all star himself after a stellar 2015 debut and has been “lights out” in the cage so far this season, according to Bendell.
Other top performers in the early part of the season include junior Ryan Lodge (5g, 2a) and freshman Mike Shaw (3g, 3a) at attack, junior midfielder Shaun Kirby (4g, 5a), and senior defenseman Jake Ragusa — a physical force of nature and the reigning Hockomock Davenport Division football MVP.
Ragusa is joined in the back by a strong supporting cast that includes fellow senior Dan Nadeau, sophomore Gabe Galeotos, and junior Jonathan Sutton. The midfield is also strong behind Kirby, with a mix of veterans and promising young players, including seniors Eddie McCabe and Bobby Mullaney and sophomores Charlie O’Connor and Kevin Albert.
This week, the Bulldogs (1-2) were due to face two top opponents in nonleague Scituate and King Philip Regional. Both contests were at home, and the team will play one more at Memorial Field next Thursday versus Norwood before opening a stretch of eight straight away games.
Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=33018
Posted by Jay Turner
on Apr 14 2016. Filed under High School, Sports.
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