Laxmen working hard to overcome adversity

Warriors (2-4) focused on improving every day

By DAN PAWLOWSKI

WAKEFIELD — The Wakefield boys’ lacrosse team has been synonymous with success throughout head coach Andrew Lavalle’s first three years in town. Except Wakefield’s understanding of prosperity isn’t necessarily typical.

“You have to define success at the beginning of the season,” said Lavalle. “Our definition isn’t the same as everyone else’s but I just want us to be best that we’re capable of being.”

It just so happens that Wakefield has been capable of being one of the best teams in the Middlesex League in the last few years, by the traditional wins vs. losses standards. Lavalle’s Warriors don’t worry about that as much as they do about getting better every day and falling in love with the process and the game.

“Very rarely is success measured in wins and losses for us,” said Lavalle. “Our goal at the beginning of every season is I want guys to enjoy lacrosse more than they did at the beginning of the year.”

Lavalle knows that enjoyment is often established when you’re winning, something last year’s team didn’t really have to worry about as they went 18-0 in the regular season.

This year’s team certainly has aspirations of getting back to the tournament and to the Div 2 North Final where they were edged by Beverly in 2017. This year, the Warriors already got payback by way of an 11-3 road victory over the Panthers on April 7, but it has largely been a trying start to the season as they sit 2-4 with losses coming against Winchester, Reading, Lexington and Marblehead. Wakefield has been decimated by injuries, and will have the challenge of learning how to play without three great players: seniors Nolan Collins and Dylan Frank and junior Anthony Forziati.

The first hurdle for the healthy Warriors is the mental aspect. You can’t discredit the truth that Wakefield would be a better team with those key guys, but such is life in high school sports. Now it’s time to go get them some wins.

“You just have to get better,” said Lavalle. “That’s the name of the game. We can’t sit back and say, ‘Oh we have all these injuries, it is what it is, let’s pack it in for the rest of the year.’ We want to get these W’s, so we just have to work harder in practice and get better in games.”

That type of mentality takes leadership on the field. For that, Wakefield will turn to senior captain Ryan Fitzpatrick. The UMass lacrosse commit will be counted on not only to compete on all three levels of the field, but also to lead his team off of it.

“He’s our leader on the field and off the field,” said Lavalle. “He makes all the right moves. Unfortunately when you’re as good as he is you don’t get any rest. He’s playing defense, he’s long stick mid, and then we get him on the offensive side when we really need to start pumping in some goals.”

The senior leadership is still a strength for this team even without captain Frank and Collins.

Goalie Ryan Chambers is back and widely considered one of the best goalies in the league.

“Ryan Chambers makes unbelievable plays for us every game,” said Lavalle. “He’s a good teammate and a very good goalie. Every game he looks good for us, it’s just a matter of being able to score some goals for him.”

On the offensive side, Wakefield will lean on five seniors: Bobby Keegan, Robert Guida, Alex Joly, Tyler Drago and Dan Kerrigan.

Joly is the perfect example of how the Warriors are facing their challenges head on. Typically a defensemen, Joly was asked to move up to attack this year to fill in for Forziati. It’s a lot to ask of a senior to learn a brand-new position, but Joly is embracing the task because he knows his team needs him.

“He’s a guy I’m really excited about. When he gets dodging and when he starts understanding the game on the O side he’s going to be a pretty difficult guy to stop,” said Lavalle.

Drago has been plenty productive so far this season as an experienced member of the attack.

“Drago, he’s kind of our rock on the
offensive side as far as knowing what to do and where to go,” said Lavalle.

Up top, the Warriors have gotten a lot of goals this season from seniors Keegan and Guida, which is production they will certainly need to count on all year.

“Dodging from up top, we have Bobby Keegan who obviously has an absolute cannon,” said Lavalle. “He’s a guy I really appreciate coaching because everything you say to him he ends up doing; he just give you a lot of effort.”

“Guida is very similar to Keegs, he’s just a little more outspoken. He’s our lefty dodger from up top and he’s been pumping them in for us as well.”

Kerrigan is a bit of an x-factor for the Warriors.

“When he’s on, he’s on,” said Lavalle. “The key is to keep him focused. When he’s focused, he’s a dangerous player.”

Defensively, another senior that Wakefield will look to fill in is multi-sport athlete Dan Cataldo.

“He hasn’t been playing lacrosse his whole life but you can see that he’s such an athlete that he does well,” said Lavalle.

Together, the seniors have the tough, two-fold task of the typical ‘help the young guys learn how to win’ combined with now encouraging the group to overcome the injury adversity.

It won’t be easy, but that’s not the point.

The opportunity to better enjoy the game will always be there. Enjoy the process of getting better, play as a team, stick together, and coach Lavalle promises that will lead to more wins and more fun. The Warriors have plenty of time to make that happen.

“It’s a long process,” said Lavalle. “You don’t want to be peaking right now, you want to be peaking towards the end of the season and hopefully we’ll be able to do that.”