After last year, there is really only one direction the Silver Lake boys’ lacrosse team can move.
The young squad hit a learning curve last year on their way to a 1-17 finish where the lone bright spot was a 12-4 win against a Milton in their final game of the season. Milton did not win a game last season.
Fortunately for the Lakers, however, they had a rather small senior class last year and only lost three starters to graduation. Unfortunately for them last year, two of those regulars were hurt for most of the season. On the bright side now though, it means their squad built up experience last season and is used to competing at the varsity level.
This year, the team will most likely be led by senior Drew Neal, who was the team’s leading scorer last season and their lone Patriot League All-Star.
Looking deeper at the attack, senior Nolan McDonald should be another major asset to the team, like he was last year. The same could be said for junior Owen Nally, who netted three goals in the team’s win over Milton last season.
Sophomore Preston Nichols, who emerged as the team’s goalkeeper early in the year last season is expected to resume his duties in net once again this season.
Of course, while this sort of experience will help the Lakers, it will not cure all of their problems. They still dropped 17 games in a row last year and struggled at times, but they did finish out the 2016 season strong. In addition to that win over Milton, their second to last game was a tight 9-8 loss to Abington where the Lakers were competitive throughout the contest.
Playing a tough Patriot League schedule does the Lakers no favors, but it does afford them the opportunity to compete against quality competition nearly every single game.
The Lakers won their season opener against North Quincy/Quincy in a non-league matchup on Monday, April 3 with a score of 11 – 3. In their first home game, Monday, April 10, Lakers will face Oliver Ames, who went 10-10 last year.