Foxborough Lacrosse Wins, Advances to Semifinals

Foxborough lacrosse looks like a team on a mission. Playing Reading Memorial High School in the quarterfinals of the MIAA Division 2 Eastern tournament, the Warriors drained the Raiders on a hot afternoon en route to an impressive 8-1 win.

Playing against a Reading team that uses a similar strategy as Foxborough, the first half was mostly a slow paced affair. With both teams taking their time to maximize their possessions, shots were carefully taken with two strong goalies in net. While slower, it was a pace that no one on the Warriors minded playing.

“I love it. It brings out your best in you,” said Warriors senior captain Connor Whalen.

Despite the tight game, Whalen opened up scoring at 2:23 in the first quarter to give the Warriors an early 1-0 lead.

With Reading playing with a similar strategy, it did not take long for them to respond.  David McDermott made the most of a pass from Nick Guenard to score from the right of Foxboro goalie Greg Stamatov. Tying the game at 1, it looked like the game was going to be about who could make the most out of having the ball the longest.

With the quarter coming to the end, the Warriors got a quick boost of momentum. James Stather scored off a wraparound from the left of Reading goalie Matt Comerford to give the Warriors a 2-1 lead after one quarter.

Continuing to grind it out on both ends, Connor Whalen scored a big second goal for the Warriors to extend the lead to two. With the assist coming from Cam Felix, Roberts got the shot off from right in front of the net to add an important goal to the Warriors total. Finishing the day with a game high three goals, Whalen took control of the game early on to give the Warriors an early advantage in the first half.

“He’s a man among boys like Billy Roberts was the last time (against Hopkinton) and that’s what I love about this team. Any different time one of those seniors will step up. Today was Connor,” said Warriors coach Matt Noone.

As everything started to go right for Foxborough, everything began to go wrong for the Raiders. Frustrated by the Warriors tight defense, the Raiders began to try to force their way through the Foxboro zone. The Raiders would be denied as the Foxboro defense shut down the Raiders for all of the 2nd half.

“We had guys step up, but most of all today the defense. For a team like Reading to only score 1 goal today, CJ (Rogan), (Greg) Warner, (Steve) Bresse, (Alex) Lopez, and Al Noonan today, Chris Johns, they locked them down,” said Noone.

Near the halfway mark of the third quarter, Jake Soccorso extended the Warrior lead to 3 with a big goal. Unable to respond, the Raiders began to slowly fall apart both on offense and defense.

“I think we just ran out of gas. I think they played hard. Good kids. They did the best they can,” said Reading coach Dave Lautman.

If there was any doubt about who was in control of the game, it was put to rest in the fourth quarter. Scoring 4 goals on an exhausted Reading defense, the Warriors pounced on a defense that was worn out and making easy mistakes. Dan McCarthy picked up a goal to start the quarter with Whalen getting his 3rd of the game only minutes later. Jake Hyland also picked up two goals after his first goal in the 3rd quarter was disallowed due to a crease violation.

Connor Whalen led scoring with 3 goals. Right behind him was Jake Hyland with 2 goals. James Stather, Dan McCarthy, and Jake Soccorso all had 1 goal. In net, Greg Stamatov stopped 13 of 14 shots on net for the Warriors.

The only goal for the Raiders came from David McDermott. In net for the Raiders, goalie Matt Comerford stopped 18 shots on goal.

While the Raiders will end the season with a record of 15-6, the Warriors improve to 16-3 and advance to the MIAA Division 2 Eastern semi-finals against the Medfield Warriors. Medfield beat #1 seed Wellesley 8-5 to get to the semi-finals. Both teams will face off Friday June 10th at Foxborough to decide who will play in the Eastern state finals.