Boys’ Lacrosse Relishes High Winning Season
The boys’ varsity lacrosse team had a high winning season, coming out with a record of 13-5. Despite several tough losses for the team, the members’ consistent work ethic and dedication led them to many impressive victories and numerous high-scoring games in which they defeated their opponents by margins of up to 16 goals.
The season opened with a difficult 6-7 loss to St. Sebastian’s Country Day School, but the team wasted no time getting back on its feet. Winning the next four games, including a remarkable 16-0 against Tilton School and 11-0 against Roxbury Latin School, Exeter’s lacrosse team demonstrated its talent on the field, particularly on the offensive side.
However, the team’s 6-7 loss against Proctor Academy broke the streak. “We were on a four-game winning streak going into Proctor and we had a small lead on them early that we just couldn’t extend and they ended up coming back and beating us,” lower Jack Pimental said. Nevertheless, the team used this close loss as an opportunity to refocus and learn from their previous mistakes, and redeemed themselves in a strong victory over Portsmouth Abbey School with a final score of 17-3, their second-highest scoring game of the season.
“Obviously we weren’t perfect, but that’s part of growth as a team. We got better as the season went on, both as a team and individually, and that's all you can ask for.”
Following their win against Portsmouth Abbey School, the lacrosse team played one of its most exciting games of the season against Pomfret School, ending in a buzzer beater that several team members consider the highlight of the season. The two teams were tied 7-7 with only a few seconds left in the game when postgraduate and offensive weapon Andrew Bowman scored the game-winning goal after an interception and pass from Pimental, who later described it as “a great moment for the team.”
The game was especially rewarding for Exeter because of how hard both teams fought. Upper Cory Mengden explained that it “was a big game in which both teams played well, and was an important home win.” Upper Malcolm Ogden agreed with Mengden. “It was a really good game and both teams fought hard, so having an ending like that, with Bowman scoring with no time left, was awesome,” he said.
Postgraduate Daniel Ozizmir also commented on the significance of the game against Pomfret School and stated that “it was such a competitive game and it could’ve gone either way but Jack Pimental had an unbelievable interception and pass to Bowman to set up the game-winning goal.”
This win set the team up for their highest-scoring game of the season, in which they crushed the Dexter School with a final score of 19-4. Unfortunately, their success did not carry into their next game against New Hampton School, where they suffered a frustrating 5-6 loss in overtime. “Against New Hampton our defense played phenomenally but our offense just wasn't clicking,” Pimental explained. “The game ended up going into overtime and they put it away in the first minute.”
According to Pimental, Exeter’s offense frequently struggled to “put the game away,” which proved to be “a common trend through the season.” This contributed to the team’s loss at Loomis Chaffee, where they had a three-goal lead going into the second half but were unable to sustain it and the opposing team surged ahead, winning by one goal.
Coming off of this two-game losing streak, the team was in low spirits but did not give up any of its motivation, which paid off in their next four games against Brewster Academy, Tabor Academy, Kimball Union Academy and Northfield Mount Hermon School. Pimental noted that “the team was feeling down but we ended up playing just like we wanted to on both sides of the field and added four wins to the record.”
Though the team ended up losing 5-10 to Deerfield Academy, one of its biggest rivals, the game was still a success in many ways. Exeter was able to hold Deerfield to the lowest number of goals they had scored all season. Noting that Deerfield is ranked among the top ten teams in the country, upper Matthew McShea said that for Exeter to hold the score at 4-3 after the first quarter was “incredible.” He further explained that “the sideline did their job, unheralded stars like [senior] Kevin Gilbert and [upper] Tamer Sullivan really stepped up and we meshed as a team to salvage the game for a moral victory.”
Overall, the team recovered from its close losses and translated what they learned from those games into victories throughout the season, demonstrating their resilience and ability to grow. “From losing multiple one goal games to turning it around and stomping Portsmouth Abbey, Brewster and Tabor, we got much better as a team throughout the season,” McShea said. Several team members felt as though there were games which they could have won. Ozizmir expressed frustration at losing four games by just one point, but said “we played so hard in every game so losing a couple close ones is just part of lacrosse.” Mengden Reiterated the frustration felt from the close matches.“There were a few one goal games that we could have easily won, but those close games are always more fun to be a part of as opposed to blowouts," he said.
Many of the players commented on the closeness of the team, thanking their captains and seniors Jason Corcoran, Jimmy Young, Henry Behrens and Alex Farley for “setting a tone of friendship and cooperation amongst the guys,” in the words of Ozizmir. Lower Tanner McGowan described the team as “a great group of guys looking to have some fun and win games,” while lower Peyton Weatherbie said, “We are just a classy group of young adults that mesh together well as a team on and off the field.” For Bowman, playing with the team this season has been an amazing experience. After coming into the season not knowing many players, he said, “now I know everyone so well it’s hard to believe I’ve only been on the same team with these guys for only two months.” McShea concluded that “this may be the most talented team a lot of us ever play on, we just had to work to mesh all our talent together so we could get results.”
Though there were several games the team wishes they could have back, they believe that it was overall a very successful season. Through both tough losses and remarkable victories, they have worked hard to improve with every game. Next year, the team hopes to enter the Deerfield game undefeated and perhaps be the first men in red to defeat Deerfield in a quarter of a century. To get there, they will have to continue working together and building off of each other’s strengths, like they did this season.
“Obviously we weren’t perfect, but that’s part of growth as a team,” McShea said. “We got better as the season went on, both as a team and individually, and that's all you can ask for.”