A slight chill hung in the air last week as cars whistled along Route 3 nearby. But the Norwell Clippers were finally back at their sanctuary, eager to defend their 2022 Div. 3 boys lacrosse championship after an extended respite.
Was there plenty of optimism? Sure, how could there not be? Yet, the Clippers have decided to approach their new campaign with a sense of humility, albeit eager to make history.
“Right now, we’re kind of keeping the expectations real,” said Norwell coach Josh Stolp. “We lost a lot of great players. We still have a lot of great players, lot of young guys. So, we’re just trying to make sure that we’re going out there every day, and sort of pushing ourselves to get a little bit better.”
Norwell (21-2) lost a few critical players from last season’s roster, but has the return of Syracuse commit John Mullen, along with seniors Austin Shea and Timmy Ward. Ryan Daly should provide some great insurance in net for the Clippers as well.
Most are penciling in Medfield (19-4) as the challenger to Norwell in the Div. 3 field. The Warriors fell to the Clippers 13-11 in a hotly contested title bout last spring. Gone are the likes of former stars such as Luke Murphy (playing at Loyola), Jack Sullivan (Mercer) and TJ Casey (UMass-Amherst). This year, expect a strong performance defensively from this particular group helmed by Kevin Arthur, Joe Bartolotta and Will Griffin.
“At Medfield, the standard doesn’t change,” Warriors coach John Isaf said. “The expectations are the same. We do have a lot of new players that are going to play big roles for us this year. I would expect the team to have the same level of competitiveness, and play with the same kind of intensity and I.Q. that Medfield usually plays with.”
Dracut (18-4) enjoyed a breakout season in a run to the state semifinals in 2022. Now, there’s a target on the Middies in the Merrimack Valley Conference. Rutgers commit Brock Desmarais (64 goals, 31 assists last season) will be coming back, as is junior Charlie Maraganis (115 ground balls, 80 caused turnovers), who will be taking his lacrosse talents to Marist soon.
When the MIAA opted to switch to a statewide tournament format, Hanover (15-6) made the drop to Div. 3 after having sustained success at the Div. 2 level for years, and promptly marched right to a state semifinals appearance last season. Now, the Hawks return 13 seniors, with Colin Killgoar and Ronan Kearney as captains.
Other notable teams in the Div. 3 field this season include Foxboro and Newburyport. Keep an eye out for Grafton to emerge as a contender from Central Massachusetts.
In Div. 4, Sandwich (19-4) figures to be a favorite. Mike McNeil watched his team come up one goal short to Wahconah in the state final, and the Blue Knights will search for leadership from a Merrimack commit in Connor Stack, as well as Avery Richardson, Brady Carroll, and Shane Corcoran.
“They want that opportunity,” McNeil said. “But I think there’s a little bit of humility there, because it’s going to take a lot of work. … It’s actually kind of part of what we’re doing this year, is staying hungry, stay humble. And we’re trying to run back our tradition. We have a long tradition in Sandwich of having some winning teams. We graduated a lot of guys, but that fever is still there, 100 percent.”
Wahconah (21-1) lost plenty of key individuals from its championship team, but should still be in contention thanks to a talented junior class, led by Rylan Padelford (45 goals, 55 assists) and Noah Poirier (75% face-off win percentage).
This field figures to be fairly top-heavy this year. One consistent contender has been Cohasset, which reached the Final Four last season (a 13-12 overtime loss to Wahconah June 18). The Skippers (14-8) brought back junior defenseman Declan Lee, who is already committed to UMBC. Senior Colin Humphrey will be stepping in at goaltender this season. Cohasset also will see the return of one of the top midfielders in the South Shore League, as Charlie Donovan rejoins the team after missing the majority of last season with a hip injury.
Multiple coaches across Eastern Mass. have pegged Weston (17-5) as possibly the team to beat in Div. 4, namely due to the fact that the team is returning nearly its entire complement of players from last spring.
Dover-Sherborn (13-9) has had its fair share of success with state title runs this recent decade, but suffered a slight setback in 2022, but making it to the Div. 4 semifinals anyway. The Raiders saw the departure of Will Bowen and John Bennett. However, they welcome back their leading scorer from last season, Wyatt Pastore. Carson Ahola is expected to play a key role defensively, as will Luke Sveen in net.
As for potential sleepers, Lynnfield has gotten off to a hot start this season, and could pose potential problems for other contenders come tournament time. Medway is also a program that should not be overlooked.
Carson Ahola (Dover-Sherborn)
Kevin Arthur (Medfield)
Joe Bartolotta (Medfield)
Timin Carter (Dracut)
Ryan Daly (Norwell)
Brock Desmarais (Dracut)
Charlie Donovan (Cohasset)
Will Griffin (Medfield)
Lucas Leander (Rockland)
Declan Lee (Cohasset)
Charlie Maraganis (Dracut)
John Mullen (Norwell)
Rylan Padelford (Wahconah)
Wyatt Pastore (Dover-Sherborn)
Noah Poirier (Wahconah)
Avery Richardson (Sandwich)
Austin Shea (Norwell)
Connor Stack (Sandwich)
Luke Sveen (Dover-Sherborn)
Timmy Ward (Norwell)