Boys' Lacrosse Team Ready to Face Unfamiliar Foes After First Round Bye

Coach Jim LaSelva is in a nice position - a waiting position. The boys’ lacrosse team earned a first round bye with its 11-5 record for the 2011 season, and just has to wait to see whom they will play.

LaSelva says he’s confident that his team will be ready, whether it’s Bishop Connolly or Tri-County coming to Hamilton for the East Division first round playoff game on Friday afternoon. Game time at the high school field is set for 3 p.m.

“We have a good network, the lacrosse coaches in the area, I’ve made a few calls to see what I can find out about Tri-County and Bishop Connolly,” LaSelva said. “It’s reciprocal, we don’t divulge everything, but I’ve gotten calls for information on some of our opponents, Gloucester, North Andover, the teams are playing in other division playoff games.”

Bishop Connolly is located in Fall River and are in the preliminary round after finishing the regular season with a 9-7 record, seeding them at 21.

Bishop Connolly will need to get by Tri-County Regional Vocational Technical High School of Franklin to earn a matchup with Hamilton-Wenham. Tri-County finished the regular season at 14-3 and will be hosting the preliminary round match against Bishop Connolly.

Regardless of what team advances to face the Generals, both team would have mnore than an hour long bus ride to Hamilton - Tri-County is about 70 miles south of the Regional while Bishop Connelly is about 80 miles away.

The Generals are seeded fifth in the tournament, behind Dover-Sherborn, Weston, Cohasset and North Reading.

“I like where our team is at right now,” LaSelva said. “Our offense really looks good and we’ve been doing a lot of the things it takes to win, getting good shots on goal, being aggressive getting to ground balls, thinks like that.”

“We’re at the point in the season where hard work pays off, we’re not going to start having right-handed shots shoot left-handed, we’ve just got to play smart and be aggressive and do what got us here,” LaSelva said.

Hamilton-Wenham finished in a tie for second place in Cape Ann League play and LaSelva said the team really came together after a that made the team a much tighter unit.

“That really gave us a boost, but unfortunately, the altercation led to suspensions, and that really hurt some of our players,” LaSelva said.

If a player is suspended, he is ineligible to make the CAL all-star team, and LaSelva feels that some of the suspended players were all-star material. Two were suspended after the fight with the Big Blue, and another was suspended for a team issue.

Hamilton-Wenham did place three players on the conference all-star team, Elliot Burr and James Brao made the first team and Sam Martinez made the second team.

Bishop Connolly plays in the Mayflower Conference and has the dangerous Zach Medeiros on the attack for the Cougars. Tri-County is also in the Mayflower Conference, coached by Matt Murphy. Senior Matt Killoy was the team's leading scorer this season. Tri-County's nickname is also the Cougars, so it will be Cougars versus Cougars in their playoff game. 

“We’re ready for either team, our guys are excited to be here, and hopefully we’ll win and get to host another playoff game at Hamilton-Wenham,” LaSelva said.

“I feel the team really turned the corner when we had our five game winning streak, we had players out, and different kids stepped up to help us win,” LaSelva said.

“Christian Valletti stepped up, Dakota Stevens stepped up, we had a lot of contributions when we were shorthanded,” LaSelva said.

The last lost for the Generals was on May 20 against Masconomet.

“That was a great game, a tight game, we played really well, (a 4-2 loss) LaSelva said. “I think we’re where we need to be right now and I’m excited to get back on the field on Friday.”

The playoff game is scheduled for Friday afternoon, but if Bishop Connolly upsets Tri-County, the higher seed, the game will need to be rescheduled for Thursday afternoon, because Bishop Connolly has graduation ceremonies scheduled for Friday evening.

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