Canton High boys lacrosse team eyeing big season

Senior Griffin Roach has picked up where he left off after an all-star junior season for the Bulldog lacrosse team. (Mike Barucci photo)

After a bit of a rocky start over the first few games, the Canton High boys lacrosse team seems to have bounced back nicely with back-to-back wins against two tough nonleague opponents in Scituate and Pembroke.

Coming off an 11-8 season and a trip to the Division 2 south semifinals, the Bulldogs appear to possess the talent to go at least that far this year if all the lineup pieces jell as the coaching staff hopes.

“I think we have a lot of talent,” said veteran head coach Bill Bendell. “I think our challenge is going to be fitting the right pieces in the right places and guys accepting their roles. If we do that, I think we can be as good if not better than last year.”

Bendell was very encouraged by the team’s earlier 8-7 win over division foe North Attleboro, but admittedly disappointed by their 8-7 loss to Sharon a few days later. However, he thought the Bulldogs looked sharper and generally more poised in their past two victories — a 9-7 road win at Scituate and a 19-7 blowout victory at home over Pembroke. Canton saw both teams in the 2018 playoffs and to come away 2-0 in the two rematches was a good sign, according to Bendell.

In the Scituate matchup, the Sailors concentrated on shutting down junior standout Tommy Vaughan, a recent transfer from Xaverian Brothers who has given Canton’s offense a whole new level of explosiveness so far this season. Bendell thought Vaughan played very unselfishly in the game despite being limited to one goal, and the Bulldogs were still able to execute their offense behind senior midfielder Griffin Roach, who paced the team with three goals and three assists.

Bendell said Vaughan and Roach are the team’s two clear “horses” on offense, but they have several other players capable of contributing on that end, including Lavoie, Dan Cohen, David Allen, Andrew Canto, Matt Martin, and Brendan Clifford. Several younger players have also shown promise, including a pair of freshmen, Eddie Gillis and Sam Carlino, who scored their first career goals in the win against Pembroke.

Defensively, the Bulldogs are led by Brendan Albert, a shut-down senior defenseman, along with junior James Murphy and long-stick midfielders Nick MacKay and Jack Albert. New goalie Dylan Coyne has assumed starting duties and has looked fantastic through the first six games, according to Bendell.

Now 4-2 on the season, the Bulldogs were due to host Natick on Wednesday and will welcome Stoughton to town next Wednesday, April 24.

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