by John Sinnigen

The L-S boys lacrosse team beat Beverly 16-3 in the opening round of the postseason tournament. For the boys team, who missed the tournament last year for the first time in the program’s history, it was good to get a win.
“This was a big win for us,” said senior quad captain Jon McIvor. “No one is expecting us to do much this year in the tournament, but the team is really hitting its stride and playing some good lacrosse, and we really think that we can shock some people.”  
All evidence indicated that McIvor was right. The team won four of its last five regular season games, with big wins over DCL rival Acton-Boxboro, and Andover, one of the top teams in the state.
Despite their momentum heading into the Beverly game, the boys came out slowly at the start of the game, and were ahead just 2-0 at the end of the first quarter. They picked it up in the second quarter, however, and had built up a 7-1 lead by half time.  
“It took us a little while to get going,” said junior captain Keegan Ashley. “I think some of it had to do with nerves, but once we realized we could play with Beverly, we really got going.”
After half time, the boys came out flying, and soon put the Beverly team away for good, with a 15-2 lead at the end of the third quarter. They focused on possessing the ball in the fourth quarter, and killing the clock, sealing a 16-3 victory.
With one victory down, the boys looked to the next round and their next opponent, Xaverian High School. “One win is good,” said captain David Rocklage. “But now we have to focus on Xaverian. They are a good team, so we are going to have to play tough if we want to beat them.”  Xaverian lost to Duxbury in the state finals last year, and were ranked fourth in the state heading into the tournament. 
Despite being the lower seed and playing on Xaverian’s home turf, the Warriors were confident coming into the second-round game. The Hawks came out with three quick goals, but it was not enough to hold off the determined L-S squad. They rallied back, scoring six unanswered goals, and at halftime the score was 7-6 in favor of L-S. 
The second half was a hard fought battle, with both teams fighting to the finish. Seniors Dave Alderman and Evan White played airtight defense, and showed heart and hustle with every ground ball. With the lead going back and forth, Xaverian eventually squeaked out a victory, 14-13. 
It was an emotional game for the Warriors, with the boys coming so close to an upset, as well as it being the last game for the seniors. Unfortunately, they could not pull out a victory. The optimistic team looks forward, however, to the promises of next season as they will be retuning numerous members of this year’s team.