Medfield Boys' Lacrosse Wins 'Sloppy' Game in Medway

It wasn't pretty, but the Medfield High School boys' lacrosse team won its third straight Tri-Valley League game Tuesday, defeating Medway, 12-4. 

"[We were] very inconsistent and very sloppy with throwing and catching," said Medfield coach Mike Douglas. "We never got into our offense at all because we couldn’t keep possession. Whether we settled, man-up, transition – we were sloppy with the ball and we’re not playing together as a team. We have to learn to trust each other on the field as teammates and trust ourselves to make plays."

Medfield (3-1, 3-0) was coming off an 8-5 loss to Wellesley on Saturday and was looking to rebound with a victory against Medway Tuesday. While the Warriors secured the win, the way in which they won was cause for concern for Douglas. 

"We’re young and a little bit inexperienced," said Douglas. "I think at times we don’t do what we need to do to earn a victory. We think that we’re going to step on the field and we’re Medfield and it’s just going to happen."

Medfield led by only three after one (4-1) and by four at halftime (6-2) before erupting for six goals in the third period that put the game out of Medway's reach. The Warriors were shut out in the final 12 minutes but held Medway to just one goal in the 12-4 victory.

"We played great against Wellesley on Saturday and then we came out here and was very inconsistent," Douglas said. "We got to learn that we got to work each day in practice and that carries over to the games. You can’t play to the level of your competition. You have to come ready to play each game."

While most teams would be satisfied with a 12-4 victory over a league opponent, Douglas and the Warriors proved they are not most teams and hold the MHS program to a higher standard.

"We have one goal and that is always to win a state championship," Douglas said. "Our secondary goal is of course to win the league and get home-field advantage in the tournament and go as far as we can go. We are always playing for June."

Peter Gill led Medfield with four goals and Conor Roddy, Andrew Melvin and Derek Etzkorn each added two. Sam Aronson earned the victory in net, making several big saves throughout Tuesday's contest. 

Douglas stressed that while Medfield isn't at the level it expects to be, there is still time to get on track. 

"It’s still early, it’s April," said Douglas. "You’re going to go through cycles where you lose some experienced players and over the course of the last few years we have had several guys go on and play at the college level. We’re replacing them with some younger guys and more experienced guys but we hope there will be a steady incline where we are peaking in June and playing like we want to be playing at the end of the season."

Achieving that level of play begins each day at practice. 

"Hopefully we will learn from this experience and this will be the [reminder] to rededicate ourselves and realize we can’t just show up and win the game," said Douglas. "It starts in practice, it starts in warm-ups. I think we’ll learn from this and it takes a few lessons. We got great competition coming up over the next six games and hopefully we will play like we are capable of."

Medfield's next game is at home against Hopkinton at 3:45 p.m.