Boys’ lax looking sharp despite loss to Franklin

By Jay Turner

For the third time in its past four games, the Canton High boys’ lacrosse team played well in all facets of the game, but it was not quite well enough to win, as the Bulldogs fell to Franklin 8-5 on the road in last Monday’s season finale.

Junior Kurt Leavitt (Mike Barucci photo)

The loss dropped the team to 7-10 on the season; however, they did still manage to sneak into the Division 3 postseason as the 27^th seed and were due to face No. 6 Weston — the defending state champs — in a preliminary round game on Tuesday, May 29.

A Canton victory in that game would certainly qualify as an upset, although the Bulldogs have already proved that they can hang with the Wildcats after losing a competitive game against them in the second round of last year’s playoffs.

Canton head coach Bill Bendell noted that all of Weston’s top players from its 2011 title run are still with the team. But the same is also true for the Bulldogs, which “seem to be peaking at the right time” despite a mediocre win-loss record.

Last week, for instance, the team played a much more competitive game against Franklin than they did in the previous meeting between the two squads, which ended in a 10-5 Panther victory.

Franklin got off to a similarly hot start in Monday’s game, going up 5-0 at halftime. But this time it just “felt different,” according to Bendell, and in the second half the Bulldogs played inspired lacrosse, outscoring the Panthers 5-3 behind an outstanding performance by senior goalie Devin Costa.

“He played very, very well,” Bendell said of Costa, who finished with 23 saves. “He kept in us in the game throughout the whole second half.”

The Canton offense also picked up the pace beginning in the third quarter, led by senior captain Matt Malloy, who finished with two goals and two assists, and juniors Pat Ward (2 goals), JC Marcone (goal), and Nick O’Connor (2 assists).

Those four players also happened to be the four highest point scorers on the squad this season, with Malloy tallying a team-best 52 points, followed by Marcone with 42, Ward with 34, and O’Connor, a midfielder, with 20.

Another strength of the team has been its defense, led by Matt Bagley, Eric Wong, and sophomore Quinn Merrigan, and that is before factoring in the return of junior captain Connor O’Brien, who was expected back for Tuesday’s tournament opener after missing the entire season with an injury.

All of these are reasons why Bendell was expecting a close game against Weston on Tuesday, and if the Bulldogs can keep it close, then the pressure will fall squarely on the Wildcats to avoid an upset.

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