The high school lacrosse season is a little over one week old, yet some teams are still sorting out their personnel due to April vacation.
Oak Hill was without four year-starting goalkeeper Matty Martin and talented freshman Bailey Drouin in last Thursday’s 20-1 loss to Maranacook/Winthrop. That game was also the first for the Hawks’ Kyle Morand, who missed the start of the season while away on a school exchange program in Germany.
“We went to Austria first, hung out in the city there, and then we went to Germany and stayed in the city and hotels for two weeks,” Morand, who had three goals in the win over the Raiders, said. “Then we had a week with a partner that we stayed at their house.”
While Morand was away from the team, he said he did get an opportunity to keep his lacrosse skills sharp as his partner through the exchange program also played.
“I’d been working on keeping up while I was away so I was able to get back and I think I stayed with it alright,” Morand added. “It was good to get back to it.”
The Hawks are certainly happy to have him back, particularly with a game against rival Gardiner slated for Wednesday at 4 p.m.
“I love playing them. They give us such great competition,” Maranacook/Winthrop coach Zach Stewart said. “I’ve never had a walkover game against Gardiner. I look forward to playing them every time.”
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When asked when the last time he had played on a different team than classmate Kyle Flaherty, Alex Mace had a quick, succinct answer.
“Never,” Mace said.
That will change next fall for the two Oak Hill standout athletes who helped elevate the school’s football team to unprecedented heights, as Mace has committed to play at Husson University and Flaherty at Bates College.
“We make a pretty good team. It’s going to be weird seeing him on a different team next year,” Mace said. “It will definitely be different.”
The two also heard recently that they had received a $500 scholarship from the Maine Chapter of the National Football Foundation as recipients of a scholar-athlete award, which will be presented Wednesday, June 10 at Bowdoin College’s Thorne Hall.
Before Flaherty and Mace go their separate ways, though, they are hoping to cobble together one last playoff push as teammates on the Oak Hill boys lacrosse team.
“We expect a pretty good season,” Mace said. “We have some strong seniors with a pretty strong bond going.”
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The Winslow boys team certainly did not wait long to pick up its first win as a varsity program, rolling Oxford Hills 14-5 last Thursday.
“That was pretty exciting,” Winslow coach Bruce Lambrecht said. “When you try to treat every game as just one game you can’t get too excited, you can’t get too disappointed and you just focus on one game at a time, but obviously everyone was pretty happy we pulled off our first win as a varsity program.”
Lambrecht said that over the past few years they have kept track of certain landmarks in the program history — such as forming the club and taking a step closer to becoming a varsity team — yet that is not how the Black Raiders are approaching this season. Rather, they have adopted the philosophy of staying as even emotionally as possible.
“This year we haven’t really focused on it that much because it’s all about the next game, let’s makes the most of this season,” Lambrecht said. “I think they do appreciate it. They don’t really talk about it, at least not within earshot of me. They are terribly excited, they do know it’s an important season and they want this school to be proud of them.”
Winslow and the Lawrence boys have gotten off to the fastest starts amongst the area’s five new varsity teams this season, as the Bulldogs dropped Mt. Blue 14-4 Saturday. The Erskine boys fell to Gardiner 25-2 in their opener, while the Winslow and Erskine girls open their seasons this week.
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Given their history, it is only fitting that the Messalonskee and Cony girls lacrosse teams will face each other in their regular season opener Tuesday at 4 p.m. in Oakland.
The two teams played four games last season that were decided by a total of five goals, with the Eagles edging the Rams 9-8 in the Eastern Class A semifinals the last time they met. Both experienced quite a bit of turnover in personnel from last season, yet Messalonskee coach Ashley Pullen does not believe that will water down their rivalry.
“There definitely will be a lot of new faces on the field on both sides but I don’t think it will change the intensity of the game,” Pullen said. “Our returners (Monday) at practice were talking about the history between us and Cony and how much it means to them that we go out in the first game of the season and make a statement on our home field.”
Evan Crawley — 621-5640
ecrawley@mainetoday.com
Twitter: @Evan_Crawley
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