Final Regular Season New England Lax Notes

Connor Darcey

Posted on May 26th 2011

Massachusetts 

(While we await Friday afternoon's brackets to be released)

• The two horse race in Division 1 of Duxbury and Billerica will likely be thrown a curveball this year by undefeated Marshfield. At first glance you may not think Marshfield belongs but do not sleep on this South Shore squad as the Boston Herald's Bruce Lerch first noted early in the season. The undefeated Marshfield Rams have received strong goalie play from Will Contento '11 and a balanced offensive attack this season. Marshfield does not play a terribly challenging schedule but has defeated BC High and Hingham to prove their worth.
• Also in Division 1 Lincoln-Sudbury and St. John's Prep have both qualified for the tournament and will draw low seeds in D1. Both teams have battled new personnel, injuries and challenging schedules but both are finally playing their best lacrosse of the season and can certainly cause some major problems for higher seeded teams.
• In Division 2 Wellesley has been the top dog all year and has quality wins over Billerica, Needham and Concord-Carlisle on their undefeated resume. Wellesley has balance and strength all over the field but are led by the state's best goalie in Connor Darcey '12 (pictured above left) in the cage.
• Also in D2 Concord-Carlisle, known for their staunch defensive lacrosse, may have lost leading scorer Seth Bird '11 (attack) to a broken collarbone but it does present an opportunity for players to step up. In recent wins over Weston, Newton North and Reading junior midfielder Jackson Finigan '12 (pictured below) (3 goals win over Reading) and junior Kevin Delehey '12 (2 goals win over Newton North) took on some of the offensive workload. C-C still has a strong base of offensive threats, led by attack Ben Lesser '11, (5 goals win over Weston) and with the added production from the midfield they can still be a threat to win the D2 state tournament. C-C has also played this season without leading midfield scorer and Bucknell bound Cole Fisher '11.

• In Division 3 Dover-Sherborn is riding high after wins over Medfield and Walpole during their current seven game winning streak. They look like the current favorites but Cohasset and senior midfielder Thomas Flibotte '11 should be there as well.

New Hampshire

• Despite having an uncharacteristic amount of losses Bishop Guertin (11-7) is still the favorite to come out of NH in Division 1. Pinkerton Academy (17-0) may have defeated BG by one goal at home early in the season but BG plays a stacked out of state schedule (Duxbury, Needham, Cohasset-MA, La Salle-RI, and St Joseph Metuchen-NJ) These contests are designed to have BG battle tested come June. Look for a June 8th rematch in the D1 state finals between these two teams. The state finals are at Nashua's Stellos Stadium this year at 7 p.m.

Connecticut

• The FCIAC championship game is tonight as #1 seed Darien goes up against #3 seed Ridgefield at Brien McMahon High School. Darien's Case Matheis '12 starred on this scene last season as the Duke bound junior scored 9 goals in a win over New Fairfield last season as sophomore all-American. Matheis will try to shine again on the big stage tonight and add to his 37 goals and 31 assists on the year.

Rhode Island

• In Rhode Island the semi-final match-ups are set in Division 1 as #1 seed La Salle Academy (12-1) gets a rematch with #4 seed Portsmouth. Portsmouth is the only team to have defeated La Salle as they upset the Rams last Saturday 13-10 upset. On the other side #2 seed Bishop Hendrickon faces #3 Moses Brown. The Divison 1 championship game is June 5th at Rhode Island College. Game-time is scheduled for 1 p.m.

Prep and Private School

• Governor's Academy (16-0) wrapped up an amazing undefeated season on Wednesday with an 8-6 win over Middlesex School. The visiting ISL champs got 3 goals from junior midfielder Sam Davis '12 (pictured below) to propel them to victory. GA also got strong play from Penn State bound long pole Reed Kennedy '11. It was a closely contested match-up in Concord but GA's strong midfield and defense came through big in the win.

• Deerfield Academy (15-0) also wrapped up an impressive undefeated season by defeating Phillips Exeter Academy in the closest game of the season for DA last Saturday. DA got fantastic seasons from their core group of seniors, Jimmy Bitter (UNC), Bobby Osgood and Mike Mueller (Dartmouth), Brian Browne (Fairfield), Will Swindell (Brown), and John Hogan (Cornell) along with star juniors goalie Luke Aaron (Duke), attack Ian Ardrey, and attack Sean Connors (Princeton).